Thing For You
by streetofdreamsx
Summary: Zoe is a journalism student in college and, as a part of the internship she has just begun, she is required to attend to a press conference with a few members of the WWE but her encounter with one of the Superstars will not end there.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note:** Zoe is the character I created for this story, not really inspired by anything and I have no idea where I'm going with this. So don't find it strange if you find out of character parts. Feel free to leave any good or bad criticism. I obviously don't own any of the WWE references.

* * *

Looking at her watch for the third time in just four minutes, Zoe hears a woman's voice urging her and the other eleven journalists to enter the room where the press conference would take place. "Journalists – proper journalists", the brunette thought to herself as she took big steps down the corridor, walking fast enough but trying not to seem nervous or eager.

At the very end of the corridor, she could see a very well lit room, both doors wide open. As her steps – now smaller and with caution – brought her closer to the entrance, the young woman took a very deep breath and stepped her foot down harder, telling herself that she had no room to let fear stop her.

Already in the room, a tall blonde woman stood next to the first row of chairs, the first of four rows in front of a table with two microphones, a few Redbull cans and water bottles, and pointed to their seats, greeting all of the journalists with a nice, wide smile.

Zoe instinctively slowed down and let all of the other journalists pass her by, taking all the seats of the first row. "Ma'am," the blonde spoke in a soft voice, now pointing to the second row of chairs. "You may sit here."

"Thank you." Zoe responded with her best smile as she sat down. After placing her black book bag on her lap, she shoved her hand in it, looking for the notebook where she had a few questions written down. Once she reached it and pulled it out, Zoe rested it on top of the bag and grabbed a little mirror she had dragged out to the top of all of her stuff in the process. Looking at herself for a moment, the brunette sighed, pushing a few of her dark curls away from her face. She definitely wasn't used at looking at her face with make-up on but this had been her attempt to look older and somewhat more professional.

Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, Zoe made sure to memorize a few of the questions or, at least, a few of the points she would like to approach. Soon enough, her eyes opened rapidly and widened as she saw a female a male figures entering the room and waving at the journalists before taking their seats.

Before any of them started talking, the spokesperson informed the small crowd that Alicia Fox and Randy Orton were there to answer a few questions from each person followed by a short explanation for press use of what people could expect from that night's show.

Of course, throughout the explanation Zoe could only hear random words, names and voices as she searched in the back of head for the questions she was meaning to ask. Then, it was "go" time. After the person said they could now ask questions, all the journalists raised their hands. All of them, except for Zoe. Her lips parted, her mouth hung open, but her hand stayed still, rested on her bag.

The first question was already being answered and there she stood, in the back, taking noted to use on her report and beating herself up for not having the guts to ask a question. As Alicia finished answering, Zoe swallowed a lump in her throat and managed to raise her hand, even if only just a bit but enough to be seen and asked to speak.

"Yes, hum… my – my question," Zoe's words could barely be heard and both wrestlers leaned in slightly to try and hear her. She cleared her throat and spoke again. "What would you consider the main characteristics to make it in this business?"

For a second and after she spoke, Zoe was sure everyone in that room could hear her heart beating. But she kept looking at both Alicia and Randy back and forth until one of them spoke.

"First of all, if someone wants to make it the business, they can't be like you. They have to speak up, look the other person right in the eye and kick the stage fright right in the ass." Randy spoke loudly and assertively, looking Zoe in the eyes, showing how it's supposed to be done.

All the journalists turned their heads to look at her, chuckling a bit as they noticed the female's cheeks turning bright pink.

As opposed to the short moments before, Zoe was now sure that her heart had stopped. She had to remind herself to breathe, to blink, to keep herself from storming out of the room.

"Seriously though," Alicia's soft voice came out, causing everyone to focus their attention on her. "You have to be sure that this is what you want, because it will be hard and you will want to give up. it takes time…"

Alicia continued to speak, looking at Zoe with a smile but a smile was the last thing that could be found in her face, in any shape or form. Her nostrils were dilated as the brunette breathed slowly, her fingers rabidly taping against the hard cover of her notebook.


	2. Chapter 2

Zoe still hadn't gotten over how bad her day had been but life had to go on, even if she couldn't stop thinking about the happenings earlier that day. Luckily, the bar where she worked at was nearly empty and she wouldn't have to worry about smiling and engaging charming conversations with the clients.

She looked at her watch once again. That night seemed to never end, she couldn't see the time to get home, lie down and think about the excuse she would give to her teacher the next day. Just the thought of that made her sigh and shake her head from side to side.

"Isn't that spot clean yet?" Zoe's boss spoke, slightly tilting her head to look in her eyes.

Finally lifting the cleaning cloth from the surface of the counter, Zoe looked at the opposite woman who kept staring at her, with her hand placed n her hip. "It is. Sorry." Her boss knew her well enough to realize from the look on her face how her day had been, so she just nodded, turned her back and walked away to the end of the counter.

Once again Zoe went back to cleaning the counter, this time in more than one spot.

"Glad you have a second job," a male's voice sounded from the stool right in front of her, causing her to lift her head and look at the person talking, "because you really suck at your other one."

Zoe threw the cloth against the counter and crossed her arms across her chest. "Are you done?" she spat out angrily, hardly believing her eyes. From all the clubs the city had, from all the bars – even nicer ones, she admitted that – he really had to go there.

"Also that shirt…" he moved his finger up and down towards the girl's black Guns N Roses shirt. "Who listens to that anymore? Especially after 'Chinese Democracy'."

"Listen, Axl Rose will always be Axl Rose. 90's or not, Slash or not." The brunette leaned forward slightly, looking into the man's eyes with a blank face like she was talking about republicans versus democrats.

After she was done speaking, the brunette turned her back on him and grabbed a few glasses and a few bottles. Chewing on her lower lip, she asked herself what that argument over a band was, considering she had bigger issues she could have exploded about.

"Are you not going to ask me what you can get me? Are you as lousy at this job as you are at the other one?" The man questioned once again.

Zoe slammed one of the glasses against the counter and turned around to look at him. "Are you fucking kidding me? Have you not humiliated me enough?"

"Okay." He laughed and pursed his lips, extending his hand out.

"What -"

"Let's start over. I was trying to be funny but obviously you're not in the mood. So, I'm Randy." Orton moved his hand a bit further, almost forcing it on her.

Narrowing her eyes just a bit, she took a deep breath and repeated the previous question in a sigh. "Are you kidding me?"

"Ah. No. I'm just a costumer. You just met me. Starting over, remember?" Randy smiled, his hand still extended out in front of her.

Rolling her eyes, she turned her face and, down at the corner, her boss was looking at her, shaking her head in disapproval. Zoe had to do it, she had to forget what had happened that morning even if just for a while and treat him like she would treat any other costumer.

"Zoe." She finally shook his hand and forced a smile on her lips. "What can I get you?"

Randy rested one of his elbows on the counter and ran his index finger along his lower lip, looking around at a few of the bottles displaying. "Hum… Jack Daniels." He finally answered, his attention again on the barmaid.

She quickly poured the drink on a glass and placed it on top of the counter and in front of the man.

"Nice shirt." Randy grabbed his drink and brought his hand up. "Someone told me once that Axl Rose will always be Axl Rose." He added with his eyebrows raising, before taking a sip on his beverage.

As she smiled a bit, the brunette heard her name being called out from one of the tables and after looking over with a nod, she walked from behind the counter and within a few small steps, she was close to the table at the corner.

"What is it, buddy?" she leaned over, almost whispering. "You know I can't help you with your projects when I'm at work."

"But I just want to meet him." The kid spoke in a low voice, pointing his finger at the big man sitting at the bar.

The girl rolled her eyes as a vehement "no" came out of her lips. But when she looked at the little boy's face, almost with a pout, she could no longer say no. She motioned her hand in one ascendant movement, telling him to get up and, with her arm on the kid's shoulder, she guided him to Randy's seat.

With a raised eyebrow, Randy looked at Zoe and then lowered his eyes to look at the child. "Who is this little champ?" The wrestler asked, patting the young boy's shoulder and bringing a smile out of him.

"This is Cameron. He just wanted to say hi to you." The girl answered as she gently pushed the young boy a bit forward, the corner of her lips heading up once she saw both males extending their hands out.

After the handshake, Zoe walked back to behind the counter. "Okay Cam, now you go back to the table, yes? Don't bug Randy." She added, refilling Randy's glass.

"No, no. I'd love to talk to the little champ." Randy smiled, putting his arm around Cameron. "Take a seat, little man."

Zoe's smile grew wider as she noticed how nice Randy was being. The boy was nothing but stars trucked about having a conversation with one of his favourite wrestlers who kept enthusiastically asking questions.

"Wow, you're four? You seem about eight. Do you want to be a wrestler when you grow up? Because I'm sure you'll be strong enough for that." Randy let out a soft laugh as he looked at the boy.

"I want to be a wrestler and win every championship." Cameron answered with excitement, flexing his arms and getting a louder laugh out of the big guy.

"Well guess what, Cam? Right now you need to finish the project." Zoe placed her palms on the cold counter, supporting herself and leaned in, inclining her head in the table's direction.

"She's right, champ. School always comes first. You don't want to sound dumb when you give interviews, do you?" Randy spoke with his most serious face.

Cameron looked at both and with a quick nod, he got off his seat and walked back to his table with a smile on his face.

Seeing the boy so happy, Zoe couldn't help but to smile, almost as big as the toddler. When she pried her eyes away from the table, she looked at Randy who stood there, staring at her as his index finger slid up and down his glass.

"Is he - "

She interrupted him, answering before he could finish the question. She was more than used to this question and Randy seemed to have a question mark above his head. "He's my bother."

"Oh okay." Randy sighed with a smile. "Not that it would be anything wrong if he was –"

"But he's not." Zoe interrupted him once again. "Thank you for being so nice to him, by the way. He's a big fan."

"No problem. I mean, I kind of owe you." He shrugged his shoulders and tensed his jaw slightly.

Looking at him, Zoe could tell he really was sorry and, for that moment, she really wanted to tell him it was okay. After all, someone who appears to be so "bad ass" had just been a sweetheart to her brother and it meant he couldn't be that bad.

She heard her name being called again from another table, making her turn her head. After the guy raised his hand and shook the empty beer bottle, Zoe grabbed another bottle and walked to the table, serving the older man. As she made her way back, the girl noticed that Randy's blue eyes had followed her the entire time.

He opened his mouth and seemed about to speak but before any words came out, he took another sip of his drink.

"What?" The brunette rolled her eyes as she posed the question.

"I just…" Randy pursed his lips together again, looking down at the nearly empty glass.

"Dude, just say whatever you want to say." She looked at him with her arms crossed over her chest.

The man lifted his head and looked at her, biting on his lower lip before finally speaking. "I just wonder if I got you in trouble this morning."

Zoe looked in his eyes, realizing that she actually made him feel bad and her point was never to make him feel guilty. She took a look around and saw her boss had disappeared so she walked from behind the counter and occupied the seat next to the man.

"Listen, nothing bad happened. It just was humiliating." She rested her hand on top of the counter, drawing invisible little circles with the tip of her fingers. "It's not even an actual job, so at most, I'll lose my internship. So… it's not a big deal, the world won't end. Go back to your life." She added, glacing at him and making a soft smile appear on her face. Zoe nodded, almost to herself once she finished speaking and got up of her seat, walking back to her initial place behind the bar.

Randy stayed quiet for a while, his eyes focused on the brunette, now with her back turned on him, slowly organizing bottles like she was alone in the bar. He took the last sip of his drink and as soon as the empty glass made a sound colliding with the surface, Zoe turned around.

"Anything else you want?" she asked, a soft smile appearing on her face.  
"Yes, actually." Randy answered with a quick, firm nod. As she grabbed the bottle and picked it up again, Randy opened his mouth to speak again. "I really want to make it up to you." he quickly added, positioning his hand in front of the empty glass, before she could fill it. "It was a stupid joke with a stupid ending."

"It's fi - "

"It's not fine!" He interrupted her, knowing the word she was about to say. He knew what it meant to lose an internship and thinking back, the way he acted that morning hadn't been fair. "Everyone needs a start somewhere and I was a prick for treating you like that and making you feel even more nervous."

Zoe's face was still blank, hearing his words. It was really just _fine_. Just because he admitted he was wrong made her feel better. Pushing a few lose curls away from her face, she shrugged quickly. "I should have faced it better and just laugh it out."

"You should have this, I should have that… end of discussion, I'm going to help you and that's that." Randy raised his voice just slightly, smiling at her.


	3. Chapter 3

After nearly forcing his help on Zoe on the past night, she saw herself getting out of the bus in a rush, her book bag in one hand and her jacket on the other, walking to the arena. Taking large steps, she was almost out of breath like she was running a marathon. "Oh good god" she sighed after one more look at her watch. She was already nervous and like that wasn't enough, the bus had been late and though she knew she could make it to the arena in time, the thought of something getting in her way or going wrong still chased her.

'Why can't I be punctual?' Zoe mentally tortured herself with the question but finally, she was right in front of the back door of the arena and she quickly walked over to the security guard standing there with a very stern look on his face and shades hiding his gaze.

"Sir, hi." The brunette spoke almost in a whisper but still loud enough for the man to look at her. "I have this interview scheduled with Randy Orton and - "

"Yeah, right, you and every other fan." He rudely cut her off, letting out a chuckle as he finished the sentence and turned his face to look away.

Zoe cocked an eyebrow as her jaw snapped open. "No, you don't get it. I- "

"No can do, I'm not letting you in." the security scoffed, interrupting her again, not even making the effort to turn his head to look in her direction.

Taking a deep breath, the girl almost stood in tippy toes as she tried to make the man look at her and before speaking again, she regained composure. With a smile on her face, she attempted to explain again. "He told me – " Getting cut off again by the sound of a small crowd yelling and clapping, Zoe turned around and saw a bus stopping close to them, the crowd moving to the barricades holding cameras and what she thought were magazines. Once the doors opened slowly, a man's shape became visible and outside stepped Randy, wearing a grey Affliction shirt and black shorts.

"Oh there he is! Randy!" The girl called out his name and shifted her jacket to her other arm, freeing her hand to wave at him.

Quickly the security guard landed his hand on her waving arm, gripping gently. "You're going to have to step to the other side of the barricade." The man spoke slowly and vehemently with a very straight face, pointing his finger to the loud crowd. "Like everyone else." He added.

"But… Randy!" She yelled again, this time getting Randy's attention. Slowly he changed his course and after greeting the fans, he walked over to them with a blank expression on his face, like he was clueless about what was happening.

His face remained inexpressive as he looked at her. "Randy…" She tilted her head on the security's direction.

"Sorry… I have no idea who she is." Randy narrowed his eyes in her direction and raised both of his hands a bit, shrugging his shoulders.

The security guard pulled her by the arm, making her move a bit. "To the other side." He repeated with the same stern look still on display.

"Wait, she's with me." Randy grinned at the security with his hand raised in front of the man, looking back at Zoe. "Hi." A mocking smirk appeared on his lips as their eyes met and the smirk rapidly turned into a very innocent smile upon looking at the brunette's unimpressed face.

She simply blinked slowly, biting on the inside of her lip and not impressed by Randy's joke. As usual with him.

"Sorry you had trouble getting in, should have figured." Randy gently placed his hand on her shoulder and motioned his other hand towards the back door.

Zoe looked up at the man, her mouth opening but closing it fast before she could speak. 'Sorry about having trouble getting in but not about making me sound like a stalker' she almost "hmph'ed" at him. Without saying a word they both entered the building as the girl hastily pulled out her notebook trying to speed up the process.

* * *

"Thank you so much, Randy. Seriously." Zoe let out in a sigh as the other man guided her to the way out. "You may have saved my not-yet-career."

He simply nodded his head in her direction with a smile even if she was too busy putting her notebook away, to notice his gestures. He moved a bit closer to her and spoke in a low voice, almost whispering. "I'm going to give you my number because I want to know how it goes, yes?"

Zoe's eyes locked on his blue ones and her lips parted with surprise. She had no idea why he was trusting her like that but obviously, she couldn't say no to him. Not after he actually helped her. Pulling her blackberry out of her pocket, she handed it to him. "Just type it."

Once he was done typing, the phone was handed back to her and Zoe shoved it back on her pocket, without even looking.

"I'll let you go now." Zoe bit down on her lip, nodding her head. "Thank you so much."

"No problem." He quickly motioned his hand and gave her a quick wink. "I'm serious about wanting to know how it went though."


	4. Chapter 4

After all the fuss it had been to get the job done, Zoe finally got the grade and review of her work. The interview had been published on the local newspaper and she had chosen not to ask for any opinions. Despite the feeling she had about doing well, a part of her always told her that it could be better.

Once she was finally home, she dropped her book bag on the couch and reached her hand inside of it, pulling out a white envelope. She stood there for a while, not moving, just staring at the envelope like she had a superpower and was able to read it that way.

Taking a deep breath, Zoe closed her eyes and finally ran her thumb under the envelope's fold, ripping it open. Mentally crossing her fingers, she pulled the paper out and unfolded it, her eyes quickly dropping to the bottom of the little letter, eager to read the result.

"No…" she let out, her mouth hanging open. Her heart seemed to be pounding and for a brief moment, the girl wasn't sure whether she wanted to laugh or to cry but the corner of her lips headed up has she read the words "professionally accomplished" and Zoe let her body fall on the couch with her hand placed on her forehead.

When she managed to stop smiling, she came back to the top of the letter to read the whole thing. With a smile plastered on her face again, the brunette slowly moved her lips as she advanced on the text, slowly taking everything in as she read it to herself. Right under the grade, the principal proposed she'd move on on her internship: the local newspaper was willing to offer her a spot as a writer on the "other sports" column.

"I can't believe this!" Zoe laughed, placing the letter on her lap and her hands cradling her face. She shook her head from side to side once again as another "wow" came out and she moved her hips forward just slightly to pull her cell phone out of her pocket.

Scrolling down the contacts list thoroughly searching for the one name she wanted, she finally reached the "R" and pressed the OK button. Shortly after the second "beep", she heard a voice from the other side of the line. "Randy?" Zoe cleared her throat before speaking any further words, hoping she wouldn't sound as shaky as she was hearing herself. "It's Zoe, the girl you gave the interview to."

"Oh, the sissy?" he responded with a laugh. "Yeah, I remember you."

The girl rolled her eyes at his mockery but let out a giggle before continuing. "I just wanted to let you know that this _sissy_ is now a writer on the local newspaper." She emphasised the word "sissy", her finger still pressed against the paper, marking the line with the most exciting news.

"That's amazing! I see I turned out to be very helpful." Randy said cockily. "Hey, how's your brother?"

Zoe's hand flied to her mouth before an "aw" could come out. She bit down on her lower lip and smiled, looking down with her cheeks turning bright pink with embarrassment, even if she knew he couldn't see her. "He's great, thanks for asking,"

_"Honey, who's that?"_ a female voice could be heard from the other side of the line.

Randy spoke after a brief pause, now in a lower voice. "Good, good… So, see you sometime?"

"Hum, yeah? Yeah, sure." Zoe answered even if she knew they probably would not see each other again but of course, she wanted to be equally polite.


	5. Chapter 5

Carefully placing the fourth glass on the silver platter, Zoe heard her name being called for what seemed to be the umpteenth time that night. Turning her face to the side slightly, even without looking at anyone, the brunette nearly yelled out a "I'll be there in a second" as she picked up the platter "No need to wear my name out". Walking and dodging the full tables, she sighed when her name was called again, this time in a more cheerful tone.

As the rested the glasses on the table, she smiled at the male who had just called her name. he looked up at her and mumbled something she couldn't even understand, giving her full realization that he was already drunk. "Last drink for you" the female patted his shoulder gently with a smile on her face. She worked there long enough to know most costumers on that bar and with that, their limits. And one thing she knew was that drunken men and football nights didn't usually work out very well.

With the platter rested against her hip, she walked back to her spot.

"Zoe!"

"No more drinks for you tonight, I've told you." Zoe sighed after the spitting out the quick reply she had waiting for a while, expecting a new attempt from the man. Turning around to talk the man out of drinking any more, she faced a bigger shape than she expected.

"I haven't even started." He chuckled, looking at the brunette's surprised face, her mouth hanging open a bit to complete the look.

"To what I owe the honour, mr. Orton?" she managed to speak finally, trying to erase the surprised look from her face.

Before answering to her, Randy shrugged his shoulder and sat on one of the stools. "Well," he propped up his elbows on the cold surface, "I do believe you owe me."

"How's that?" Zoe leaned against the bar, her eyebrows raised and her eyes focused on his.

"I fucked up your little interview, I got you another one and you got a spot on the newspaper. Because of me. So, it makes it two to one." Randy dropped one of his hands against the counter and tapped his fingers against it with a smirk.

Letting out a laugh, Zoe's hand flew to her hip. "So you decided to stalk me."

"Oh, you better be nice or we'll never get even." Randy wagged his finger in front of her face, a soft smile appearing on his lips.

"And then you'll just keep stalking me? Because I don't want that." She smiled, tilting her head and looking at him by the corner of her eye.

Randy shook his head off and laughed, cradling his face with his hands. "How is this even stalking?"

"Well," Zoe grabbed a bottle of Jack Daniels and a glass, placing it in front of the man without even asking what he wanted to have. "How far do you live?"

"Not very far, just two hours from here. But how does that - "

"You actually got out of your way to come here. which means," Zoe filled her glass while she glanced at him, "you're stalking me."

Sliding the glass across the surface and closer to him, Randy let out another laugh. "Wow, that ego of yours… I may need to leave. Your ego is smothering mine." His eyes widened as he spoke, still chuckling softly before raising his glass.

Zoe didn't really think he would stalk her but her away to deal with uncomfortable situations was to make a joke out of it and act more confident than she actually was. It was awkward enough having Randy there to talk to her, this time she wanted to be more relaxed than on the previous occasions.

After she turned around to put the bottle away, Randy spoke again, causing her to turn around.

"So, how long 'til you have time to sit and talk to me, like, you know, normal people? Without counters and bottles between them." Randy looked around, motioning his finger on the different bottler's direction.

The female simple stood in front of him, without saying anything.

"Don't tell me I have to explain to you how a conversation usually works." He leaned his body back on the stool and landed his hands on his knees.

"No, but you do need to explain why we need to have a conversation." Zoe looked at his serious face like he as about to read a bible verse, both of them trying not to laugh.

"Because you owe me." Randy shrugged his shoulders and placed his forearms on the cold surface again.

"I thought the drink would have that covered."

He quickly cut her off. "It doesn't."

Their attention was suddenly captured by the men celebrating their team's touchdown, at the tables, in front of the big screen. The shorter man turned around and raised his empty glass, asking for another round. "This one's on me!"

The girl quickly spun around to grab a few glasses and beer bottles, while the fuss coming from the tables could still be heard.

"So," Randy spoke, trying to make his voice heard above the males' little celebration. "Why was your brother here, the other day?"

After placing all the glasses and bottles on the platter again, the brunette turned around again, holding it. "He has an alcohol problem." She let out as she walked by him, not even slowing down or looking at him. Quickly making her way back, she saw Randy still shaking his head. Once their eyes met, Zoe shrugged her shoulders and gave him an innocent smile.

Randy raised his eyebrows and slowly slid the tip of his tongue along his bottom lip. "Are you this nice to everyone?"

"No, you're just that special." Zoe faked a cheesy smile.

A smirk appeared on randy's lips and his hand rested on his chin. Still staring at her, he was having an hard time believing that someone – especially a woman – could give him attitude like that. Even if she wasn't interested in a conversation, the wrestler seemed to have found himself a new hobby: to annoy barmaids.

"You know, most women would be interested in being nice to me." Randy took a sip of his drink.

"Well, I apologize for not being a fan girl interested in engaging a charming conversation and wanting to sleep with you." Zoe said with a serious and almost concerned look on her face as she leaned down and grabbed her black leather jacket that was under the counter. "Goodbye now."

The man watched as she put on her jacket and expected her to talk. But shortly he realized that she didn't intend on saying anything else.

Again Zoe walked from behind the bar and waved at her boss who quickly took her spot serving drinks.

"Hey, hey!" Randy almost yelled as he jumped off his seat. "Are you dissing me?"


	6. Chapter 6

Being rude wasn't Zoe's intention but she couldn't understand how someone like Randy would want to talk to her and she definitely wasn't interested in making conversation with someone she barely knew, no matter how nice that person seemed to be. She just kept walking, smiling at the men at the tables, moving slowly between them to the way out.

"Why are you so difficult?" his voice sounded from behind her, loud enough to make people look at both of them but not loud enough to make her stop. Randy took a few larger steps and soon enough he was walking beside her. After a few more steps, they both stopped. Zoe looked at him and them down.

"It's just…" she exhaled and brought her hand up, running her fingers through her dark hair. She didn't exactly know why she wasn't comfortable with the idea of sitting down and sharing facts about her. "My social skills aren't the best." She found the best way to put it.

Randy stood still in front of her, not moving, not saying anything, he didn't expect her to say anything else, but maybe she could change her mind. "Listen, I sure as hell don't like everyone… but I liked how you treated me like I was just Randy. Not Randy Orton." His lips formed a tiny smirk that quickly turned into a full smile. "You told me to fuck off when any other girl would gladly sit on my lap and tell me how sexy I am."

Zoe's eyes wandered around for a bit before stopping on his face. A smile still lingered on his lips and one of his arms was crossed over his chest while his other hand touched his chin.

"Boy have those girls tricked you." Her face finally lit up as the corner of her lips headed up and Randy laughed a bit. "Sorry, social skills really are shit." She joked with a hint of truth but finally she understood that she didn't have to impress him or attempt to – that's what he had enough of in his life.

"You already know stuff about me since you had to search for your article. So it's only fair if you tell me some things about you." Randy's hands now rested on his pockets.

Zoe began to walk and Orton followed her. "Here is the bus stop where I catch the bus that takes me home in about twenty-five minutes. Is that enough info for you?" she smiled before sitting down on the bench.

Giving her a quick nod, he sat next to her. "You don't drive?"

She laughed before answering and shifted a body to the side just slightly to look at him. "Clearly, you don't know me. I'm the worst driver this world has ever seen."

Before Randy could say anything in reply, the chords of Metallica's "Harvester of Sorrow" came from his pocket. He reached his hand down and grabbed his iPhone, pulling it out but as soon as he looked at the lit screen, the man quickly shoved it back into his pocket. He mumbled something under his breath and looked down, taping his thumb against his knee.

"Oh man, I love that song." Zoe captured his attention again and smiled at him once he lifted his eyes and looked at her. Rather than asking anything, she wanted to ignore it and make Randy feel comfortable again.

"You like Metallica?" Randy cocked an eyebrow as he inquired.

"Uh, do babies fart? Obviously!" Zoe answered with a bigger smile, getting the same reaction out of him. "Oh…" she looked down quickly and opened her purse, burying her hand inside and blindly moving it inside. Finally she grabbed her walled with the Metallica symbol and pulled it out, waving it front of his face.

"How old are you?" Randy laughed when he looked at the wallet. "Usually boys are the ones with bands' merchandise until… well, until they're old."

"Oh my god." Zoe's jaw dropped as she laughed. "First, I'm 23. Second, that was highly sexist. And third, if you weren't such a douchebag, I would have sat on your lap and tell you how sexy you are." She raised both of her eyebrows and threw the walled back inside of her purse.

Randy laughed, shaking his head off. "Fuck, if only I knew…" but he was interrupted again by the sound of his ringtone. Once again, he reached his hand down, pulling it out but quickly pushing it back in after looking at the screen. "I need to go. Will you be fine?"

"Sure, you think someone will kidnap me?" the brunette pointed to herself with a smirk.

"Not even the worst criminal could stand you." Randy answered after he started walking to cross the road, only looking back to smirk at her.

"Asshole." Zoe scoffed in his direction, not loud enough for him to hear it.


	7. Chapter 7

The sound of Phineas and Ferb's voices was the only thing that could be heard in the living room in that moment. All the lights were already turned off and after a very long lecture, Zoe had finally convinced her little brother that once the episode was over, he would go to bed. They were both curled up on the couch, Cameron sitting on her lap and his head rested on her chest. The boy was even more exhausted than herself, after spending all afternoon trying to figure out how to draw a perfect WWE championship, but of course, he never admitted he was tired enough to sleep.

Zoe herself was having an hard time keeping her eyes open after a full day studying. Even if she had a week off of work, that didn't mean rest and she was more worn out than ever. Tilting her head to look at the brother, she saw his eyes were already closed and slowly shifted her body forward on the couch, holding him tightly and pushing herself up.

Despite the attempts to move calmly and not wake him up, as soon as his head touched the pillow, Cameron opened his eyes and looked for her in the dark room. "You going nuh-nights too?" his soft voice could be heard right before yawning.

"Sure, sweetheart. What would I be doing up?" Zoe whispered as she leaned in and kissed his cheek. After tucking him in, he promptly snuggled against the pillow and the covers. "Goodnight, munchkin."

Back in the living room, the girl lied down on the couch and looked around spotting the sociology book on the table. She stared at it for a while, debating with the thought of going back to memorizing everything. But soon she would just give up and stay motionless on the couch. "Can't even move." she mumbled with her eyelids becoming heavier, the cartoon sounds becoming more distant.

Shortly, her eyes looked like a deer's in headlights when the doorbell rang. Holding on to the couch's arm rest and almost in a jump, she was on her feet and walking to the door. For a moment, she wasn't sure if what she was hearing was her steps or her heart. She wasn't expecting anyone and at that time, everyone knew her brother would be sleeping. It had to be some kind of emergency.

Without even asking who it was, Zoe unlocked the door and opened it quickly. Her brain seemed to stop functioning while she held it open.

"Hi." In front of her stood Randy, his hands on his pockets and leather jacket zipped all the way up, as if it was freezing cold outside.

"Hi!" Zoe's heart continued to beat just as fast as before opening the door. "Did – did something happen?" Randy was probably the last person she expected to see at her doorstep, especially after not hearing from him in the past few weeks. "How did you even…" she tried to reformulate the question, helplessly trying to put everything together while her heart began to go back to its normal rhythm.

"No, it's all good. I just needed to see you. I went to the bar, your boss told me you didn't work this week but I told her it was an emergency and she gave me your address." Randy explained surprisingly fast, looking down at the mat and his hand now out of his pocket, moving as he explained everything.

"Good to know that if someone was looking to kill me, my boss would just give me away." Zoe chuckled a bit, with her hand pushing her long hair to the side and almost brushing it with her fingers. "But you needed to see me? What's so important?"

"Oh, I got these tickets for tomorrow's show, for my wife and daughter." Randy paused, reaching his hand down into his pocket and pulled out two tickets, holding them in front of her face. "Turns out she doesn't want to go. For some reason I just remembered you and your brother and I was wondering if you'd want to go."

"Oh god, Randy! You have no idea how happy my brother will be." Zoe smiled brightly, finally removing her hand from the door and pointing inside. "Do you want to come in?" she questioned once she realized that they had been standing at the door for the whole time.

"No, I should go, I just wanted to know if you'd go. it's not too far from here so for once, you could drive and – hey, champ!" his attention was now focused behind Zoe and he tilted his head to the side.

Turning around quickly, Zoe eyed her brother who was walking slowly towards the door. "Cam, why are you up?"

"I heared the door." The little guy stopped next to his sister, holding on to her leg.

"You heard, not heared." Zoe corrected him as Randy chuckled and extended his hand to touch Cameron's head.

"Is he here to play?" Cameron looked up at both of them and stepped back a little, almost hiding behind the girl's leg.

Both grown ups laughed and Zoe put her hand on the boy's shoulder, scooting him closer. "He's at this age where thinks that everyone who comes here is to play with him." She told Randy, previous to looking at her brother. "No, he's not, buddy. Now go to bed and we'll talk about this tomorrow."

Slowly, the boy moved away from the girl and waved at Randy before walking away to his room. "I'll be there in a while to tuck you in," Zoe raised her voice a bit to be heard inside. "For the second time tonight." She added almost in a sigh.

"Do you live alone with him?" Randy asked her, almost afraid to speak word after word. Their eyes met and, once the girl opened her mouth to speak, Orton could just tell he shouldn't have asked such thing, plus, he knew how reserved she was. "I'm sorry I asked. You don't have to answer if you don't want to…" he added before she could say anything.

"It's complicated." The twenty three year old raised her hand and landed it on her forehead, slowly rubbing it for a bit. "Uh, for the most part, yes." Zoe glanced at Randy getting a quick and firm nod from him, somewhat letting her know that she didn't have to explain anything else. But she did. For once, she wanted to tell him something relevant about her. "My parents divorced after he was born and they both travel a lot because of their jobs so we figured it would just be easier if we didn't have to move constantly."

"So you just stay with him. Wow, okay." Randy stuck his bottom lip out, still nodding his head, almost frantically. He suspected that it had to be a reason for her to be so reserved but he didn't expect it would be something like that.

Zoe just shrugged it off and smiled. "Come on, it's not a big deal. Some people have it worse."

The silence took over the space. Randy looked down with his hand rubbing the back of his neck and Zoe wrinkled her nose. There was a reason why she didn't want to talk about her – this fact always came up sooner or later and people always acted like she was an "underdog".

"Are you sure you're just not wanting to tell me he's your kid?" Randy finally lifted his head and broke the silence, laughing and narrowing his blue eyes in her direction.

"Yeah, I think I would know if a kid came out of my vagina." Zoe laughed and nodded at him. At least, after they both made a joke out of it, the situation was no longer awkward.

"So, see you tomorrow?" Randy asked once again to make sure the show was included on her plans.

"Absolutely."

* * *

_Thanks so much for the feeback so far, guys! Again, I had no idea people would actually be interested in reading my stuff but it makes me very happy to know that you guys are enjoying this so far._


	8. Chapter 8

"Are we there yet?" Cameron asked once again while Zoe drove around the parking lot one more time, trying to find a free space to park her car. "Asking that doesn't get us there any faster." She let out a sigh, still looking around. Driving was bad enough for her in any circumstances but it was worse when in a car with a very eager four year old.

A big enough space seemed to be free and Zoe speeded up a bit before someone else could take that same space. The last thing she wanted in that moment was to keep her brother in that car, any longer. Once she finally parked the car properly – or at least she hoped – she got out of the vehicle and walked over to the other side to get the child.

After a few careful attempts to avoid hitting the door against the other car, Zoe held Cameron who gradually seemed even more restless, looking around and questioning about the wrestlers he would be able to see. Now more than ever, she was glad she hadn't told him earlier about the show or it would have had the same effect as caffeine.

* * *

Soon enough, they were in their front row seats, Cameron proudly displaying his newly bought Viper shirt, almost trying to make his sister jealous. "I have one and you don't," he teased, followed by his tongue being stuck out at her, pulling the edge of his shirt and dangling his legs.

"That's not nice, Cameron." She warned him with a nice smile on her face, somewhat satisfied about how easily thrilled he was. She had actually thought about buying a shirt for herself but somehow she knew that Orton would accuse her of being a kid and she would rather avoid that.

Once Cameron was done with jumping back and forth from his seat to the barricade and Zoe was done warning him about getting hurt, the show was about to start.

* * *

The main event had come to an end with a victory from Randy and R-Truth for the fans' delight and both wrestlers were now on the turnbuckles, posing and thanking everyone. As Randy posed on the turnbuckle right in front of them, Zoe picked her brother up while he cheered frantically. When Randy looked down at the crowd, he waved in the boy's direction and for a moment, he moved ever more causing the brunette to laugh a little. "Like you've never met him before." She spoke, not loud enough to get her brother's attention.

Both wrestlers exited the ring and walked around, shaking hands with the crowd and, after Truth passed by and shook hands with Cameron, Randy approached them, wrapping his arms around both Zoe and Cameron, by an instant. "Meet me outside. Back door." Randy whispered, making her heart race helplessly, as he broke the hug.

"Oh, you're his wife?" the woman standing next to her asked, looking at her and Cam.

Zoe's eyes widened before she could ever open her mouth. "What? No!"

The woman didn't say anything else and Cameron giggled, laying his head on her shoulder. Zoe was sure he had not understood what the stranger said but her reaction was what caused him to laugh.

After that, they only had to wait a few minutes before they could leave the arena slowly and quietly, after most people had left.

Walking outside and around the arena, Cameron rested his head on his sister's shoulder as she carried him, talking about how much fun it had been and all the wrestlers they had seen.

Right around the corner, Zoe got a glimpse of the small crowd waiting there, most likely waiting for the athletes to come out and sign autographs or take pictures. The crowd started to move around as soon as the first group of wrestlers appeared and, among them, she could get a sight of Randy.

Raising her hand for a bit, she hoped for him to look their way, without having to call his name. Successfully, Randy noticed them and rapidly escaped and crowd and walked over to both of them.

"How was he show for you guys?" the man stopped in front of them and gently touched Zoe's shoulder before landing his head on Cameron's back.

"It was amazing, you did fantastic." The girl smiled and looked at her brother, who was now agitating his head, looking around at the other wrestlers.

Cameron wrapped his arms around Zoe and smiled shyly. "She's your wife." He giggled, burying his head in his sister's shoulder.

Stomping her foot down, the brunette chuckled awkwardly. "Cameron! Geez!" she turned her head to the side and breathed deeply, trying to avoid her cheeks from turning bright pink. Once she was finally able to look at Orton, she noticed he didn't seem as bothered or uncomfortable as she was, just standing there with a smile, scratching his chin. "It's just… it was… hum, just this lady sitting next to me, when you came over and hugged us, she thought I was your wife."

Randy let out a laugh and with a nod, her looked her up and down. "Well…" but he didn't finish his sentence. Instead, he smirked and let his hand fall down Zoe's arm. "Listen, I want to get you a shirt just so you can stop wearing bands merchandise." He proceeded talking with a wink. "I'll go get it and ask the guys to come meet me little champ before he falls asleep."

Before she could answer, Randy was walking away and already being surrounded by a portion of the fans standing there.

* * *

For the past hour, Zoe had used the phrase "just five more minutes and we'll go" to try and rest her brother so many times that it lost its meaning. No sign of Randy. Zoe figured it wouldn't be polite to leave without saying anything to him but at a second thought, what could he be doing to take so long? The crowd had dispersed, all the guys had left…

Interrupting her thoughts, Randy finally appeared companied by two beautiful blondes. He glanced at Zoe and quickly gave the two blondes a kiss on their cheeks as they smiled brightly.

"Nice meeting you ladies." Randy waved at them one last time, walking towards Zoe. "Sorry it took me so long. Devoted fans I have."

"Good for you." Zoe shrugged, mentally crossing her fingers for him not to go any further and explain to her what kind of 'devotion' those fans had. "So, I'm going now. She spat out not very loud, wanting to keep her brother calm.

"The shirt." Orton extended his hand, handing her the shirt, the same one her brother was wearing.

Zoe grabbed it and tried to make a smile appear on her lips, but the attempt failed. "Thanks." She said before slowly turning her back on him and beginning to walk away.

"Wait, hold on." Randy took a couple of large steps to be standing next to her and gently grabed her by the arm, stopping her. Before she could turn around to face him, he continued to talk. "Why are you upset?"

Zoe stared at him for a while, not answering. She was not even certain of why her mood had gone downhill. Part of her wanted to blame it on being tired, part of her wanted to blame it on him for having such a need of having his ego being stroked. "I'm tired. I want to go home."

"But you were fine."

"Well, I didn't exactly enjoy spending an hour here." she pulled her arm from his hand. "Bye, Randy." Zoe wrapped both of her arms around her brother as she carried him to the car.

The wrestler bit on the inside of his lip, cocking his eyebrows as he shrugged helplessly without saying a word.


	9. Chapter 9

The alarm clock sounded for the third time that morning and Zoe finally opened one of her eyes, rather than blindly move her arm to press the snooze button. Mentally going through the items of her to-do list for that morning, she turned to the side and flew her hand to her face, rubbing her eyes in attempt to fully wake up.

Once again, Zoe turned to the side and buried her head on the pillow, pulling the covers up. "Ugh," she groaned out, squeezing her eyes shut. She was incredibly tired, either from driving or from holding her brother for so long: she was worn out. Judging by her exhaustion, she seemed not to have had more than two hours of sleep so, to make sure her alarm clock didn't go crazy, she reached her arm back and grabbed her cell phone that, as usual, rested on her bedside table.

As she imagined, her clock didn't go crazy, she really did have six hours of sleep and, on top of that, two missed calls and a text message she didn't even realized she received. Zoe rolled her eyes, almost as if she was mad at herself for being so tired.

Mumbling grumpily, she pressed the OK button to check her missed calls but considering how unimportant they were, the grouchy female moved on to the text message.

_10/05 __4:33 A.M. Randy  
__I don't want u mad at me._

Zoe stared at the screen for a while, chewing on her bottom lip. For a moment, she asked herself if this could really be the Randy she was thinking but she quickly remembered the other Randy she knew was followed by his last name. She had only used Orton's first name, in case someone ever decided to snoop around her phone. This was really _him_. She wasn't sure what to be more admired about – the fact that he saved his number or the fact that he was bothered with her feeling towards him.

Although she wasn't sure of what to say, she pressed the reply button almost instinctively. There she lied, staring at the lit screen, the little bar flashing. Every time she would start typing, she would delete it almost in a second. Finally, she decided to go with "sleep, do u know what that is?" and quickly pressed the OK button to send it, before she could think again and possibly regret it.

Placing the cell phone on the same spot as before, Zoe finally stepped out of bed and, raising both of her arms, stretching and causing a few of he bones to crack. As soon as she decided to move towards the door, she heard the vibration of her cell phone against the wood and, quickly stopping, she spun around and walked over to her bed again.

_10/05 9:10 A.M. Randy  
__Sleep pattern is fucked. Euro tour about to start. Still mad?_

Quicker than previously, Zoe hit the reply button. "This is not a telegram, proper punctuation, please. Not mad, but would be if ur text had woke me up." she sent the text, this time feeling more confident.

Zoe put the cell phone down but still, she couldn't stop looking at it, expecting the screen to get lit up again. Briefly, she saw the light and her finger flew to the button.

_10/5 9:11 A.M. Randy  
__Fuck you, little miss attitude. How's that for punctuation?_

The corner of her lips headed up, reading his words. 'Mission accomplished' she thought to herself, having the hunch that she had pushed his buttons. Biting down on her lip and narrowed her eyes, she thought about a reply, but knowing him, they could argue all day, therefore, instead of talking back to him, she would just let it slide. "Not perfect but better." She sent.

Throwing the cell phone on to the mattress, the girl got up of her bed and headed to the bathroom to get ready to start her day. Faster than usual she was dressed and back in her room, holding her cell phone again.

_10/05 9:13 A.M. Randy  
__Seriously though, don't be mad. Don't want to go thinking u r mad._

Reading that, Zoe smiled a bit. Her intention was to stop replying and finally get everything done but, after she took another look at the time of the phone, she pressed the reply button again. "Why would u care about me being mad and what makes u think u r that important?" she sent in response.

Before she could see the screen getting lip up again, Zoe stormed out of the room and entered her brother's to wake him up. After doing so, she returned to her room and grabbed her phone.

_10/05 9:14 A.M. Randy  
__U r a feisty little one and I don't wanna get on ur bad side. And let's face it, I am that important._

'So important that I won't even reply.' Zoe mumbled to herself as she rolled her eyes. Nothing got on her nerves more than Randy's ego, especially when it messed with her. He too knew how to push her buttons. However, she still stared at the screen, asking herself if she should at least call him a name. but no, for this once, she wasn't going to acknowledge him.

Her phone was practically glued to her hip at all times, so she just shoved it in her pocket and headed to the kitchen to prepare their breakfast but before she could do anything, her phone vibrated again. As soon as she pulled it out of her pocket and read _1 new text message_, she chuckled a bit.

_10/05 9:25 Randy  
__Can't argue with facts, it seems ;)_

"Bastard," Zoe scoffed and quickly turned to look around and check if Cameron was near. Luckily, he wasn't and she wouldn't have to explain why he's not supposed to use those kind of words so quickly she turned her attention to the text. "One, I have a life. Can't just be texting all day. Two, obviously I'm the one important since u saved my number." She typed as fast as if it was an emergency.

Before she could put the phone away, another text was received.

_10/05 9:25 Randy  
__We'll settle this when I come back in a week._


	10. Chapter 10

The loud sound of the TV echoed through the bar and, as the two last men stepped out of the space, it was the only sound that could be heard. After lining up all the glasses and bottles, cleaning the counter and sitting on one of the stools, Zoe was more than ready to repeat the previous tasks all over again. Just to keep herself busy for a few more hours. On a Thursday night without football, it couldn't be helped – as the night advanced, all the costumers had gone home and the bar was now empty.

Her shift was not supposed to be over for another hour but, almost miraculously, her boss was ready to let her leave earlier. "Well, I think I can handle the business tonight." She said, moving her index fingers towards the empty tables. Zoe nodded her head in agreement and smiled. " 'Night, Zo." The woman added, looking at her as she leaned down to grab her leather jacket and purse.

Walking towards the door, Zoe heard a few laughs and male voices coming closer so she didn't move any further. Almost instinctively, the girl turned around and prepared to return to behind the counter. Even if her boss had let her leave early, she couldn't leave right when someone arrived. Before walking back, she turned around again at the thought of how familiar one of the voices sounded.

"Déjà vu." Zoe uttered as Randy Orton stepped in and stopped in front of her.

"Well, hello to you too." He answered, both of his arms along his body, his hands being lifted slightly. "Always so nice." Randy teased with a smirk on his face.

For a moment, Zoe didn't know what to think or say. Despite him saying that they would meet again or they'd settle business, she never actually believed that he would be back, no matter how headstrong he seemed to be. Her face showed no emotion and the only movement was of her eyes, opening and closing. Finally, she opened her mouth. "What are you doing here?"

"The guys and I were looking for a place to eat before going home. I remembered seeing a Chinese restaurant near here and, of course, I couldn't miss out on a chance to pick on you." Randy chuckled lightly, landing his hand on her shoulder and moving to her side, to be standing facing his friends. "This is Zoe." He moved his hand towards her. "This is Ted and John." The man now moved his hand towards each one of them. Of course, she was aware of who they were but it was polite to properly introduce them.

Stepping forward, the girl extended her hand out and shook hands with both of the men. "Nice to meet you guys." She smiled at both, then turning to face Randy, whose arm still rested on her shoulder.

"Were you leaving?" Orton asked, giving her shoulder a very gently squeeze before letting go.

Zoe nodded her head in agreement. "Uh-huh, not much to do here, tonight." She quickly tilted her head to one side, pointing to the empty space.

"So just join us." Randy looked at her and then glanced at both of his friends who were just looking around. "In that nice Chinese restaurant, two blocks away."

"I don't like Chinese." The girl stated, wrinkling her nose.

Randy's jaw dropped a bit and both men turned their attention to her. "You don't? How's that even possible?" his eyebrows were raised as he leaned his head down a bit.

"I – I don't know. I just never tried it and I'm not curious." Zoe answered hesitantly, with a shrug, keeping her shoulders tensed up as she eyed randy and hoped for him to stop staring at her like she was insane.

Ted and John were distracted again, one holding his cell phone, doing what appeared to be texting and the other looking at his iPod. Randy, on the other hand, still started at her. "If you never tried it, how do you know you don't like it?"

Shrugging once again, this time quicker, Zoe's lips parted even before she knew what she was going to say. "Have you ever taken it up the back door? Actually, don't answer." She gasped quickly.

Both men standing in front of her laughed, as did randy, once he dropped the shocked look.

"She got you there, Randy." John chuckled, his dimples appearing on his cheeks.

"My point was – and assuming that you never did, not that it would be anything wrong with that -," Zoe spoke outrageously fast while she brought her hand up to push her hair away from her face. "You don't need to try it to know you won't like it and it doesn't have to sparkle your curiosity." She shot, a big smile appearing on her face.

Randy shook his head from side to side, with a smirk, "You are unbelievable." The man looked in her eyes for a bit while a smile still lingered on her face.

"We goin' or not? I'm kinda hungry." A very grouchy Ted sighed, looking at the older man.

"Well, there's something new…" Randy scoffed back at the man, causing John to laugh a bit. Then, he turned to the female again. "Come with us, you can eat something… less Chinese. They have more than sushi."

"Oh man, sushi sounds so awesome." Ted interrupted enthusiastically, looking at both of them.

"Ted! Stop with the food, for God's sake. You ate on the plane." Randy rolled his eyes while John and Zoe laughed. Again, he focused his attention on her, as Ted went back to holding his cell phone, probably tweeting out Orton's abuse towards him or his plans for the meal. "So?"

"Okay, I guess." She finally agreed, for Ted's relief and randy's satisfaction. All the men turned around, preparing to leave the bar and Zoe looked back before walking out. "See you tomorrow, Aubree." She waved at the other woman.

* * *

After the discussion about the restaurant location, caused by Randy's certainty that going up the street would be faster and Zoe's certainty that going don the street would be easier and lead them there in the exact same time, they all finally reached the restaurant. Of course, there was yet another again another argument about their seats considering that Zoe didn't want to sit next to Randy for she suspected he would push her buttons and John refused to sit next to Ted because he was aware that the youngest man was a "food thief" as he called him, snatching food out of everyone's plate. Quickly, Randy settled everything, determining that they would go to a smaller table and each sit on one side.

Zoe tried to contest but Orton used the "shut up and suck it up" argument. Even if she tried to give him the death glare, they were already at the table, sitting in the defined places.

Once the waitress came and handed each one of them the menus, they looked at it silently, except for Ted who almost read through it out loud, stopping to question, "what to choose?" Randy and John seemed very determined about what they wanted, instantly putting the menu down. Zoe, on the contrary, seemed to be looking at the actual Chinese characters.

A few minutes passed and the waitress came back, standing by their table. "May I take your orders?"

Randy straightened his back and rested his forearms on the table. "Yes, I want sushi." He said then turning his head to look at John.

"Yeah, same." John looked at the woman with a smile as she wrote it down.

"Hum… kung pao chicken, to start off with." Ted nodded his head, emphasising the 'to start off with' part.

" 'Cause we know he'll eat everything else after that." John joked in response, causing everyone to laugh, even Ted who solely shrugged his shoulders.

The table became silent and all three men gazed at Zoe. The girl rapidly moved her head to look at the waitress once she realized her order was the one she still waited for. "Oh, I… I'm not even that hungry." She moved the corner of her bottom lip to the side, awkwardly leaning her head down.

"Come on, you need to have something." Randy leaned his head down a bit to look at her. "She'll just have the sushi, too." He added, this time glancing at the woman standing next to him.

"No! I don't want that!"

"But you don't know what you want." The tattooed man interrupted her.

"Well, I know what I _don't_ want." Zoe spoke with a very stern look on her face, Randy staring at her, almost in disbelief, trying to understand what she really wanted.

Before their discussion went any further, Ted gently touched her forearm with the back of his hand. "Do you like spicy food? Because the kung pao chicken could be a good choice for you." Seeing Zoe's nod in agreement, he completed the suggestion. "It's just chicken with peppers and vegetables."

"That sounds good." Zoe turned her attention to the other woman. "I'll have that."

"Absolutely. And the drinks?" The woman asked as she wrote down the last request.

"Water, I think. Guys?" Randy answered first and eyed the men as they nodded, except for Zoe who still stared at him, very unimpressed.

"Okay, daddy. Just pick for me." She spat out as the waitress turned her back on them, with a polite smile.

Randy smirked and drifted closer on his chair, looking in the brunette's eyes. "Daddy, huh? You know, if you're a grown woman, you shouldn't call me that unless you're laying on your back with me on top."

"Ha-ha." Zoe let out sarcastically, a serious expression on her face. Raising an eyebrow, she smirked back at the man. "Disgusting, Orton."

They eyed each other for a bit, almost not blinking as their smirks faded away. Zoe propped up her elbow on the table, cradling her face as if she was about to glare at him for the rest of the night. Soon enough, John interrupted their little "staring contest." "You guys resemble one of those very old couples, getting on each other's nerves."

Zoe and Randy kept staring at each other, this time laughing. Sure, they picked on each other a lot ever since they met, but none of them has ever given much thought to it and much less compare themselves to a _couple_. A couple of any kind, for that matter. Still, both of them sat back on their chairs, drifting away from one another. Looking at John, they both said "never", almost at the same time.

"Of course, she does think I'm incredibly good looking and that's why she had a little jealousy attack, last time we met." Randy stated, looking at John and glancing at Zoe by the corner of his eye. Seeing the outraged expression on her face, he let out a laugh, followed by a nod. "Don't look at me like that. You know you were jealous."

Zoe attempted to speak but before the words could escape her lips, she just cradled her face in her hands. "How can someone be so self centered? It's unbelievable." The girl ran her fingers through her hair, pushing her dark locks away from her face and looking at the man in front of her.

"Sure, go ahead and deny it." Randy raised his palms. "Truth is, after she saw me with two blondes, she hardly even looked at me." He looked at his friends, back and forth, with a cocky smirk.

Her cheeks were turning bright pink as Ted and John stared at her with an accusatory look. "Did the voices in your head tell you that?" Zoe spat out, shaking her head from side to side. Rather than trying to prove a point, she decided to be defensive since she knew Randy wouldn't listen. To be quite honest with herself, she didn't know what had upset her that night but she was almost positive that it had nothing to do with the girls.

"Whatever, it was what it was." Randy said confident, a smirk still on his face.

"And it wasn't that! Good god…" Zoe raised her voice a bit, waving her hand in between them, in a quick motion. "Forget it." she added at the sight of his cocky smirk.

"I'm good looking, it's normal to be jealous of other girls." Randy attacked again, causing his friends to laugh.

"You're wrong, but it's fine. Just sit there in your wrongness, being all wrong." She wagged her index finger in front of his face.

Randy leaned forward, bringing his hand up and grabbing her finger. As he drifted closer to her, Orton focused his blue eyes on hers.

Zoe also moved forward, keeping her arm still and tilting her head to look in his eyes. In that moment, her heart suddenly started racing and the room became silent. Randy seemed to move in slow motion – he licked his lips ever so slowly and the corner of his lips headed up, forming a bright smile.

"I" he spoke in a deep, low voice, slowly pronouncing the words and whispering closely to her face, "am right."

She could feel his warm breath and, unconsciously, she bit down on the corner of her lip, slightly moving back. Slowly turning her head to look away from him, the brunette chuckled softly, glancing at John and Ted who were analysing their every move with a sneering smile on their faces. "You" Zoe now stared at Randy's moist lips and took her turn to lean in, bringing her own lips so close to randy's before speaking, "are absolutely delusional."

Randy laughed and turned his head to the side. Sticking his bottom lip out and smirking, he looked back at her, slowly roaming his eyes along every trace of the woman's face. "Liar. And not even a good one."

Before Zoe could answer, the waitress was back with their orders causing Randy, as well as her, to properly sit back on their seats. While the woman placed the platters on the table, Zoe and Randy still eyed each other with a smirk, whereas Ted and John seemed to be fully committed to the meal.


	11. Chapter 11

After the waitress left, the little "up and close" moment seemed to never have existed. They all were beginning to eat and seemed not to be thinking about anything. Zoe's mind, on the other hand, was all over the place. She knew she had gotten mad at Randy and she had convinced herself that it was because she was tired that night but at this point, and after the way he insinuated himself at her, she really wasn't sure about what he triggered on her.

While the guys ate and talked about the tour, Zoe blindly stuck her fork - that the waitress had been nice enough to bring without being asked - on the pieces of meat. Rather than eating, she made the food dance back and forth on the plate, without even realizing.

Getting on her visual field, Randy held his chopsticks in front of her mouth. "Here, try it." he said with a nice, soft smile.

"No, thank you." Zoe looked at him and placed her hand over his, pushing it away slightly. "I am not feeling very well, I'm going outside for some air." Pushing her chair back, she got up slowly and grabbed her jacket and purse as all men looked at her. "Excuse me."

Taking a deep breath as soon as she stepped outside, the brunette put her jacket on and zipped it up completely, running her fingers through her hair. It was like something had suddenly _hit_ her. In her head, in her heart. She never gave it thought but after what John said about her and Randy being like a couple and the lady at the live event asking if she was his wife… maybe there was something there.

She leaned against the wall, pressing her fingertips against her eyelids. The feeling she got when he looked deep in her eyes was still messing with her stomach. She found his good looks to be the answer to this. Of course, she wasn't blind and he could make any woman feel nervous. His deep blue eyes, his plump lips, his defined jaw, his strong voice… "Fuck." She mumbled under her breath. Why was she even imagining so vividly his details, one by one? She shook her head off, trying to expel the thoughts out of her head and inhaled deeply again.

"Hey," Randy walked out, leaning beside her, against the wall. "Feeling better?"

Zoe shoved her hand in her purse looking for a small mirror. Finding it quickly enough, she looked at herself in it. "Yeah." She breathed out. "At least I'm not as pale as I felt." Without even looking at him, she knew his eyes were focused on her, probably still waiting for her to say anything else. "Just a bit too hot in there." Her eyes avoided meeting his before any of her thoughts could come back.

"Okay, just wanted to check. I'm going inside to finish my food and go home." He pulled himself away from the wall with a bright smile and balanced his arms, making his palms collide.

Their eyes met once Zoe lifted her head. "You excited?" she inquired, seeing the big grin on his face. Other than after a match, she had never seen him with such a big smile.

"Oh man, yes. I miss Al so much." He looked down at his hand, moving his other hand to touch the little hairband around his finger. Letting out a soft chuckle as he probably reminisced some cute moment from his daughter, he completed. "And Sam. I miss both of my girls."

There it was again, the will to turn her back on him. The feeling of having a hand squeezing her heart. Even so, Zoe looked at him with a smile and, as if she felt nothing, she nodded firmly. "They're lucky to have you."

Randy looked at her with the same smile. "Let's go inside? I hope Teddy hasn't decided to eat everything on the table."

"Hum, you know what? I'm just going to head home. I feel like I'm coming down with something." Zoe pouted a bit and closed her eyes for a second. "Just going to give you the money…" She reached her hand inside of her purse.

Landing his hand on his wrist, Randy stopped any further movements. "No, no. Can't let you pay. I invited you. And there's two other guys inside, do you think we'd let you do that?" he smiled at her, removing her hand from inside of her purse.

For once, she agreed with him and without saying more than "thank you", she smiled and closed her purse.

Unexpectedly, Randy quickly pulled her in and wrapped his arms around her, gently. All she didn't need to be even more confused. "Feel better and tell Cam I said hi." Randy said softly as he rubbed her back for a moment. "Will do. Tell the boys I loved meeting them." Zoe almost forced herself away from him, breaking the hug.

When he let her go and she turned around, Zoe just wanted to take a huge, deep breathe and stop thinking.


	12. Chapter 12

Sitting in the crowded classroom, almost laying on her chair rather than sitting, Zoe could hardly see or be seen. She always chose sitting in the back for that reason: most of her classes were boring and it was easier to sit back, listen to music without anyone noticing or scribbling something on her notebook. This time, the "scribbles" were an assignment all the students had to hand to her on the next class, "to do at home" the woman had specified. But, at the lack of better things to do, Zoe decided to do it then.

After writing two lines, the brunette was already out of ideas and, this time, drawing endless cubes on the paper, the teacher's voice so far away that she had to rub her eyes for a bit to make sure she wouldn't fall asleep.

Feeling a little vibration on her leg, she shifted her body on the chair for a bit to pull her cell phone out. By the time she managed to do it, as quick as it was, the vibration had stopped. Once she pressed the key to unlock, Zoe's heart skipped a beat at the sight of _3 missed calls_. Hastily pressing the same key, she squeezed her eyes shut for a split second, hoping it had nothing to do with her brother. Luckily, a weight seemed to be lifted off of her shoulders when she read _Randy_.

No longer worried at all, Zoe rested the phone under the table, on her knee. Randy was probably just looking to pick on her again. After all, three weeks had passed since their little moment which the student had tried her hardest to forget and had successfully accomplished… partially.

Her phone vibrated again and the girl's hand flew to her knee, grabbing the phone quickly. She looked at the teacher and rather than interrupting her, Zoe quietly pushed her chair back, biting on her lip and squinting her eyes as she did, praying not to make a sound. A couple of steps later, she was out of the door – 'one of the perks of sitting in the back' she thought to herself.

"Yes?" quietly spoke the brunette as she picked up.

"Hey." Randy paused for a bit. For too long.

"What's wrong?"

"Uh, I'm sorry I'm calling you like this…" Randy paused again after speaking as nearly as soft as the girl.

"Randy, what's wrong?" she repeated, almost eager to pry the words out of him.

From the other side, a sigh was heard. "I need to talk. I… I don't know who to go to and you're a woman, I thought you could give me your opinion."

A part of her wanted to make a joke out of it and ask if he was a smitten teenager looking to find out more about girls but, by the sound of his voice, she could tell the subject wasn't to be played with. Even if being serious wasn't her forte, she hoped to help.

Before she could ask any further question, Randy could be heard again. "Can we meet?"

Pulling the phone away from her ear, she looked at the time. It was still long until the class was over but, as unproductive as her morning was already being, she couldn't see the harm in skipping the rest of the day. "Where do you want to meet?"

As soon as the class was over, Zoe got out of her school and got on the bust after only waiting a few minutes. She was already on her way to the mall where she and Randy had arranged to meet. He predicted he would take an hour which was more than enough for her to sit through the rest of the class she was in and make her way to the place. All in all, he saved her from a long, boring day.

* * *

After a fairly short trip, she arrived to the mall and, instead of waiting out for Randy, the brunette entered the building and wandered through the corridors for a while, trying to kill some time. By the time she was done, Zoe walked back outside where a Bentley was already parked. Getting closer, she knocked on the window gently but hard enough to get Orton's attention. After a smile and a nod, Randy opened his door and stepped out of the car.

Walking in her direction, he let out a "Hi, sweetheart", opening his arms a bit and wrapping them around her.

"Hi. Hey…" Zoe flinched a bit, placing her hands on his waist and rapidly getting out of the loose hug.

Once they let go of each other, they looked at one another for a moment, bursting into an awkward laugh.

"So…"

"Sorry I called you." Randy leaned against his car, his hand on his waist. "I just needed to talk and I don't think any of the guys would care for this stuff."

"It's cool. You saved me from school." Zoe shrugged and showed him a smile. "So, what's up?"

She had absolutely no idea what was the subject he wanted to talk about and, quite honestly, she hadn't given it any thought. He seemed at ease enough to talk to her but Zoe still couldn't understand his trust in her. Just one of the many things she couldn't understand about him.

Randy stared at the floor for a bit before saying anything. Once he finally lifted his head to look at her, exhaling deeply, he chewed on his bottom lip. It was a personal subject and he didn't feel comfortable admitting he needed an opinion, confessing that maybe, he was not always right. "It's just…" Orton let out, mirroring Zoe's restless expression. "Me and Sam, we've been fighting a lot." The man finally completed. After all, she had gone there to meet him. _For him_.

Zoe answered with a simple nod, not sure of what she could do for him nor if she wanted to hear anything else. "Where's my opinion needed?"

"Well, the fights have all been caused by her."

"That's just typical from men, to think that." She interrupted him, rolling her eyes and burying her hands in her pockets.

"I wasn't finished." Randy cocked his eyebrows, his blue eyes glaring at her. "She's just acting so jealous lately. Throwing in my face that I don't spend time home and she doesn't hear from me in 'ages', blah, blah." He motioned one of his hands as he told Zoe the story, air quoting the word "ages". "Do you think she has a point at all?"

Zoe stood there, hearing everything and biting her tongue. For once, she didn't want to be honest, she didn't want to speak her mind and she was sure Randy didn't want her to. But the truth was that she had already seen Randy being awful friendly to girls. She had seen him ignore calls. "Hum, have you done anything that could possibly be hurtful?"

They both knew the answer and they both knew it wasn't what he was doing to say. "No." he swallowed the lump in his throat and looked away.

"Then she shouldn't be worried. Reassure her." She played along, no longer looking at his face. "She needs to understand that it's a part of your job, you know, all the travelling." Shrugging helplessly, Zoe looked at his face again as his attention was still focused on this one spot on the floor.

With a soft sigh, Randy's hand flew to his wrist, rubbing it slowly as he thought about what to say. He knew he was a bit too flirtatious but he meant no harm. He knew his wife was right – as least partially – but he needed someone to tell him he wasn't doing anything wrong. Other than that, one thing still confused him, "Why are you being so nice?" the wrestler finally looked at her, his blue eyes trying to read her, almost attempting to guess the answer.

Chuckling a bit, Zoe's lip parted without her noticing. "I don't really know." She looked in his eyes, one corner of her lips curling down. "I guess it's because you're a man and I know you guys have a smaller brain and then to be clueless about women." She joked, more to convince herself than to explain anything to him.

Softly laughing, Randy pushed his body away from the vehicle and, taking a couple of steps, he walked towards the brunette. A smile was on display as he extended his hand and reached for hers. After gently touching the back of her hand with his index finger, he grabbed it, giving it a very light squeeze. "I like this nice, friendly side of you. I knew there was a reason why I chose talking to you."

Zoe inclined her head a bit to glance at their hands and before she could step back even a little, Randy let go of her hand and threw his arms around her, pulling her in for a tight hug. For that moment that felt like more than a year to her, she pictures someone else's arms around her in an attempt to stop her heart from racing. She just couldn't. And she was so sure that he could feel her heart beating against his chest. She didn't even move her arms, her members were just immobilized by her body as she mentally crossed her fingers for him to let go.

"Thank you." Said Orton, taking his arms from around her. "See? This is harmless, I'm just a nice guy. Being nice doesn't mean anything has to happen."


	13. Chapter 13

Randy's words still chased Zoe, even after the days had passed, even if they hadn't touched the subject again. They had been texting each other – more pushing one another's buttons – and now more than ever, the girl had decided she wasn't in a position to have feelings. There he was, a married man who always found a way to cloud her mind and, whether she liked it or not, in the midst of her messy life, he was the closest to a friend.

However, "being nice doesn't mean anything has to happen" had not become easier to swallow. It was like he enjoyed playing games with her, flirting and building her up just to knock her down. Like he purposely made her feel good and then talked about the woman he actually loved. On the aftermath, he always left her thinking about everything, replaying their conversations in her head and trying to read between the lines.

Her thoughts became more intense in anticipation to an encounter. They had arranged to meet in her house after Zoe filled him in about an article she was working on. Apparently, Randy still kept track of the favours they had done for each other and he owed her. With that in mind, a tiny smile appeared on her lips as she paced around the living room, waiting for the door bell to ring.

On the couch, Cameron held the Wii controller tightly, moving from side to side as he attempted to master Mario Karts. Zoe stood behind him for a bit, observing his focus and chuckling at his gasps. Before she could sit next to him, the door bell finally rung and, prior to a deep breath and a quick hair fix, she walked to the door.

"A bit late, Orton." Zoe teased with a nice smile, holding the door open for him.

Randy replied with a smirk as he leaned in, placing his hand on her shoulder and kissing his cheek. "Ah, the usual nice greeting, Zoe."

Pursing her lips, the brunette moved to the side, motioning her hand towards the little corridor. Randy responded with a nod and walked in, traversing the short corridor to the living room. As Zoe followed him, she tried to briefly summarize the work she had in mind. "So, I want to do this piece about anabolic steroids and pain –"

"Cameron!" Randy interrupted her with his loud voice, stepping towards the couch as he replied with a shy 'hi'. As he sat next to the boy and shook his tiny hand, the wrestler looked at the screen. "Oh man, I love this game!" he exclaimed, grabbing the other control.

* * *

Zoe remained seated for an hour that seemed longer than it actually was, looking at both playing; Randy chewing on his bottom lip as if he was trying to figure a tricky math equation and Cameron back and forth from the couch to his feet, giggling every time he surpassed Randy. She coughed a couple of times, trying to get their attention, but nothing.

"Boys?" she sighed. "You guys? I'm having an heart attack here and I might die." Another try but nothing. Laying her head back on the couch and crossing her arms across her chest, she sighed again. "I told mom this Wii would be a bad idea but I never knew it would involve a grown man. Randy, let's work! Cameron, you're done here. You've been playing for over three hours. That's enough, yes?"

"No way, party pooper." Randy talked back, now moving his controller almost furiously.

"You're enjoying beating a four year old a bit too much, I think." She teased, looking at his focused face.

Quickly moving his finger, Randy pressed the pause button and turned his head to look at the woman. "A win is a win. I'm not winning because he's four, I'm winning because I'm good." Before she could say anything, he completed. "I'd beat you if you were here."

"Oh, bring it on, baby." Zoe yanked the controller from her brother's hand as the little guy laughed and sat back.

They restarted the game and, holding back on the bad words and mutual offenses, they violently moved the wrists, Zoe resembling her brother, frantically moving around and Randy still torturing his bottom lip. When he got the upper hand, he laughed a bit and glanced at the brunette. "It almost pains me to do this… not."

Zoe extended one of her hands and grabbed his controller, pressing random buttons as the man inclined to the side, trying to distance himself from her hand. The girl followed his movement and shifted her body to the side, forcing her elbow on his arm and slapping his hand. With a squeal, she watched his car spinning as hers speeded away to the finish line. "Oh my god, oh my god, what is this?" She laughed, throwing the control to the floor and wagging her index finger in front of his face.

Grabbing both of her wrists in his hand, Randy straightened up and glared at her. "You're the biggest cheater I've ever seen."

"Oh, you mad?" Zoe laughed.

"Such a great example you're setting for your brother." Orton teased, holding her wrists still as he looked at the boy.

Cameron sat quiet, laughing as both grown ups argued. His sister insisted that she could beat the wrestler fair and square but Randy fought back saying it didn't seem like it. when the little boy was asked by Orton if he thought Zoe could ever win fairly, Cam shook his head from side to side, letting out a little "no".

"Well, some friend I have." Zoe stuck her bottom lip out and pulled her hands from Randy's tight grip. Laying back on the couch, she rested her hands on her stomach, both guys looking at her and chuckling a bit.

Finally, Randy broke the silence. "Aw, come on now." The man motioned his hand in Cameron's direction, signalizing for him to get closer. After the boy sat next to his sister, they both wrapped their arms around her. "Cam still loves your loser self." He smiled at the boy and then at her.

Zoe moved her head to the side a bit, looking at Randy's smile. How could someone so annoying like him, come up with such cute and affectionate moments? He was definitely the most complex man she had ever come across. "Do you?" her words came out before she could avoid it, reaching Orton's ear before she could undo it. 'What the fuck did I just say?' she asked herself, squeezing her eyes shut and clenching her teeth. Maybe he didn't hear it, maybe she was just thinking and didn't utter the words, maybe…

"Do I what?"

"Oh, I was talking to my brother, obviously." Zoe responded as quick as she could, turning her head to face the youngster and hide the blatant lie. She was an awful liar, she was aware but better that than to be humiliated by him. As her brother said "I love you, Zo", the girl kissed his forehead and looked at him for a while, avoiding eye contact with Randy.

He removed his arms from around her, resting his palms against his thighs and looking around for a while. His eyebrows met has he asked himself what had just happened.

* * *

Zoe typed up the last few words of her soon to be published article, after a good two hours to being flooded by Internet and Randy's information. Her index finger heavily fell on the key as she let out a sigh. The brunette cradled her face with her hands and, as she rubbed her temples, she looked at Randy by the corner of her eye. "Randy… why are you staring?" She questioned with her hands now rested on the table.

"Nothing, no reason." The man looked away, timidly pounding his fingertips on the cold wood surface.

"A picture lasts longer…" Zoe spat out grumpily, no longer following the careless movements of the wrestler.

Shaking his head from side to side, Randy looked for a glimpse of the brunette's eyes. "I just spent two hours helping you and you bash me for just looking at you?" he scoffed, narrowing his eyes as soon as they met hers. It seemed to him that it was impossible to ever please or even understand the girl. "You're unbelievable." His thoughts quickly turned into words.

Pushing his chair back, Randy got up and made his way towards the door. Silently, Zoe followed him, not sure of what to say – if anything at all. None of them could get the perception of why, after the fun and almost ridiculous moment they had shared, they still argued. When it wasn't to be blamed on him, it was to be blamed on her…

"Thank you, for the help." Zoe spoke first once they reached the door and she held it open.

The man glanced at her with a quick, firm nod.

They both stood facing each other, silent. This turn, Randy was the one to speak.

"I do."

"You do what?"

"I love your loser self."


	14. Chapter 14

Randy said nothing more. "I love your loser self." Just like that, he turned his back on her. Zoe stood silent, watching him leave. It was hard to get her speechless but she had so many questions, so many things to say that it happened just that. She couldn't open her mouth.  
After he left, she pulled herself together and tried to text him.  
_Do u love me?_ – press delete.  
_What did u mean? – _press delete.

Trying was all she did.

There was no way to put it. He couldn't have possibly meant it.

* * *

While driving back home, Randy kept thinking about his own words. He shouldn't have said it, even if he didn't see any harm in that. He liked her personality, he liked how she didn't seem to care about him at all, sometimes, when every other girl would be all over him. Most of all, they were _friends_. She was annoying and ridiculously childish at times but when he needed her to be serious, she was there for him, which was more than most people he was on the road with had ever done.

"That's all that is – we're friends." Randy said to himself.

* * *

"I've told you, write about the PG rating." Randy's blue eyes followed Zoe as she paced around the room, back and forth in front of him, with her arm crossed across her chest and her other elbow on top of it.

"You're getting on my fucking nerves." Zoe rolled her eyes and stopped in front of him, letting her arms fall along her body.

Nothing had changed between them. They both chose to ignore what Randy said and after a few days without talking to each other, the wrestler was at her place again once had had a few days off from the shows. None of them touched the subject, they still picked on each other – nothing new.

She let out a raspy "ugh" under her breath and tapped her foot down before starting to walk back and forth again. Frustration was taking over her for not being able to write, something that had never happened before, and though she realized that Randy was just trying to help, at this point, any sound would aggravate her even more.

As she stepped in front of Randy, he moved his hips forth on the couch to place his hand on her forearm, letting it fall to her wrist. Not saying anything, he just stared into her brown eyes, the corner of his lips heading up to let her know it would be fine. Zoe's face remained the blank and she moved only to let out another sigh. The man let his hand fall a bit further, holding her hand and, slowly pulling the girl towards him, he sat her down on his lap.

The brunette's face lit up when she looked at Randy's face, his smile still on display and transmitting a calm that she hadn't felt in a while. Looking away, Zoe focused her attention on his hand still holding hers and slowly ran her thumb along the back of his hand.

Randy landed his free hand on her lower back, gently rubbing it and lightly placed a tiny kiss on her shoulder. "You and your fucking temper. If you'd only stop and think for a second." He spoke in a low voice and moved his hand up, landing it on her collarbone.

Zoe moved her head from side to side like he wasn't right, even if she knew he was. "Shut up" she spoke slowly and looked at his face, admiring his lips and moving up to his deep blue eyes.

He couldn't help but to laugh at the girl's reaction. He already knew how she was, stubborn as… well, as himself. Moving his hand up her collarbone slowly, he reached her neck and pushed her dark hair away, leaning in and gently pressing his lips against her skin. After he pulled his head back and noticed Zoe biting down on the corner of her lip, Randy smirked cockily, pulling her body by the waist, closer to him.

"Randy, what…" Zoe's words came out in a whisper despite her attempt to be loud. She swallowed a lump in her throat, staring at his lips, getting closer and closer. "Don't…"

The man licked his lips as if in slow motion and leaned in, pressing his moist lips against hers, running his thumb along her chin.

Zoe could finally stop imagining how his lips tasted like, how soft they were, how perfectly they would fit against hers.

The soft kiss slowly turned into a deep, passionate one, none of them wanting to break it, not even to take a breath but Randy slowly moved his head back and looked into her eyes before pecking her lips gently a couple of times. The smirk on his face quickly turned into a grin.

"Smug asshole." Zoe spat out, looking at his grin.

"Shut up." it was his turn to say, before kissing her once again. "I think we can finally stop making excuses to see each other." Orton chuckled a bit, caressing her cheek.

Staring at each other, they both went silent. Zoe wasn't sure about what to think of the whole thing, she wasn't sure about what she felt after talking herself out of having any feelings for him. On the other side, Randy was as confused as she was. It felt right _in that moment_ but he knew how impulsive he always was.


	15. Chapter 15

Taking a long deep breath, Zoe sat up on the chair, crossing her legs and resting her palms on top of her knee. After spending five hours driving, her whole body was sore and there was no way of finding a comfortable position. Randy had once again dared her, this time claiming she could never drive on her own for that long, so, just to spite him, she did exactly that.

Zoe was then waiting in her seat for one of the security guards to lead her backstage in order to meet him. She had not confirmed she would be there but the wrestler still informed her of the process to get her to meet him afterwards. _"I know you'll be there", _the brunette smiled, recalling the smug look on his face when he said those words, finishing his speech with a light kiss on her forehead. Of course, after that, she couldn't say no to him.

At the feeling of a quick, soft tap on her shoulder, Zoe turned around to see a large man wearing black.

"Miss Zoe?"

"That's me." She smiled, pushing herself up out of the seat. "I take it you'll be leading me back?"

The man answered with a nod, beginning to walk as soon as she was by his side, ready to follow.

While she was being led through a very well lit corridor, Zoe chewed on her bottom lip and cracked her knuckles. Only after a glance from the security guard, she could realize how loud her movements were sounding. To avoid any more intimidating looks, the girl stopped with the annoying habit prior to a nervous giggle. It wasn't usual for her to be this nervous, especially when she was about to meet a _friend_, but considering the events of their last meeting… she wasn't sure about anything.

Before she could give it any more thought, she had been left standing in the middle of a very busy hall, Divas and Superstars chatting back and forth. Zoe looked around, still not moving from the same spot until she got a sight of the wrestler's tattooed arms as he leaned against the wall, unwrapping his wrists.

Suddenly stripped from all of her fears, the brunette took a few quick steps, stopping behind him. "Orton."

As the man turned around with a smirk, he responded with a cocky "I knew you'd come", opening his arms and wrapping them around her.

"Sweaty! Sweaty!" Zoe whimpered, waving both of her hands while she was caught in the hug.

Randy let her go, laughing a bit at her displeased face while she was wrinkling her nose. "Oh, be quiet. You didn't look that disgusted when I was beating the crap out of Riley."

"Well - "

"Ah and don't even deny it. You were impressed. Proud of me, dare I say it…" the wrestler raised his eyebrow with a smirk.

Zoe's face remained inexpressive as she watched him flick his wrists and move his shoulders up and down, trying to release the tension off of his body. She was rather excited during the match, not only for the match on its own but also because _she_ actually knew the man everyone was cheering for. She more than _knew_ him…

With a quick movement, Randy turned around and entered the locker room only to look for something in his bag. He pulled his iPhone out and almost instantly moved his finger over the screen. "I have something to show you…" he lifted his face to look at Zoe, stepping towards the door. "Alanna in her Halloween outfit."

Zoe nearly yanked the phone out of his hand, swooning. "Oh my God, Randy. She is so adorable." The brunette looked at his lit face with a giant smile as the man himself stared at the photo. A smile of her own appeared when his eyes met hers.

"She is. And that's my wi – that's Sam." Randy dodged her looks after the words came out. Such thing didn't happen often but, for this once, Randy wished he could take it back. Just unsay it. he was so used to showing everyone photos of his girls and introducing them that he did it again, out of habit.

For a moment, Zoe seemed to stop breathing. Even if he hadn't completely said the word, she could _hear_ it. _His wife_. She has finally come to the realization she had been trying to avoid: it was wrong. What they did, her feelings for him. Wrong.

Randy grabbed her wrist in a sudden movement and pulled her inside of the locker room, closing the door after them. Placing his hand on her cheek, he leaned in, lightly brushing his lips against hers.

Almost in a jump, Zoe stepped back and looked at his face. "Are you serious, right now?" the brunette breathed out loudly enough to be heard. At the sight of his clueless face, she landed her hand on her hip. "You mentioned your wife. Your wife, Randy. After I drove five hours just to be with you."

"And your point is? You already knew I was married." Orton cut her off before she could argue any further. Once again, he regretted his words after seeing Zoe's expression, her cheeks turning bright pink as she chewed on her lip. His lips parted even if he had no clue of what to say and his hand was extended aimlessly.

Shaking her hand from side to side, Zoe squeezed her eyes shut as her fingertips were pressed against her forehead. "You're the biggest dickhead I've ever met." The girl turned her back on him, almost speechless.

The wrestler grabbed her arm firmly, spinning her around and pulling her closely. "And you're absolutely in love with me." He whispered with his thumb rubbing against her cheek. "I'm sorry I talked like that but you're not exactly innocent here…"

The silence between them seemed louder than any words. Zoe had no idea what to say, especially when she knew he was right and her brain had an hard enough time functioning with Randy's blue eyes fixed on hers. "I'm sorry." She sighed solely, looking away from his eyes. "I have no idea why you were the one fucking up and I'm the one apologizing."

"It's 'cause you love me." Randy grinned before gently pressing his lips against hers for a moment.

The voices outside became louder, causing both of them to turn their heads towards the door. At the semi open door, Ted DiBiase stood staring at both of them before walking in. Randy quickly removed his face from Zoe's face and the brunette stepped back simultaneously.

"Teddy, you know Zoe." The older man pointed to her as the opposite man eyed both of them.

* * *

"Randy, I'm just sayin'…" Ted repeated after he took a small bite out of his cheeseburger.

"Yeah, yeah. Watch what I'm doing, I know." Randy rolled his eyes, sliding his index finger up and down the cool beer bottle. "What did you see after all?"

"Nothing but - "

"Exactly, you saw nothing." Randy retorted, tilting his head a bit and raising his eyebrows as he glared at Ted. "Because nothing happened. Now shut the fuck up and eat."

DiBiase had tortured both him and Zoe with accusatory looks, so much that the girl decided to leave rather than spend some time with them. He knew Ted hadn't seen the kiss but even just a more compromising look between him and the woman was a strong enough motive to get a lecture from "holy Ted" about the value of marriage and family.

Ted still insisted. "You need to think about your actions before you do something you'll regret and hurt Sam. That's all I'm saying."

Randy filled his cheeks with air, letting it out in a loud sigh. "Come on, Ted. You know I had never done any of this to Sam. I was finally on the right path, you know?" he admitted at last that something was indeed going on.

"Only the big guy upstairs can judge you, you don't have to explain anything to me. I'm just giving you my opinion. Don't hurt any of them just out of an impulse." A nice, almost patronising smile appeared on the man's face.

A clean conscience had just become tainted after hearing Ted's words. Orton knew he wasn't the most innocent man but the most he had ever done after being with Samantha, was flirting and it was innocent. Things between him and his wife weren't going perfectly lately but he never meant to hurt her. Was he even hurting her? She didn't know about anything and a few kisses could hardly count as _anything_ at all.

If Ted's intention was to make him question everything, well, mission accomplished.


	16. Chapter 16

Entertained enough by the scribbles Cameron was making on her notebook, Zoe unconsciously glided her cell phone back and forth along the wood surface. For the past couple of weeks, that phone had been glued to either her hand or her hip, just anxiously waiting for that one text or call that would make her smile like and idiot. But nothing. Not today, not the day before. Not even a word. For multiple times that afternoon it seemed her phone was vibrating but it was only her wishful thinking.

Zoe was staring at her brother, chewing on his lip as he tried to colour inside of the lines. Not even the blue roof he was painting was enough to distract her for her phone. It was Sunday and she hoped Randy would call to let her know of a nearby show she could attend to see him. Lately, he hadn't texted her not even to get on her nerves and although she didn't want to bother him, she had to do something.

After typing and deleting right away a handful of times, she was finally ready to send. "Hi stranger. Remember me?" not very compromising, not desperate. Shortly after she hit send, the phone vibrated. _Randy_ was all she had to read to display her biggest smile.

"Hi there, handsome."

"Hey, sorry we haven't spoken. I've been busy." Randy answered in no time, less playful than usual, worrying Zoe who was expecting to be called loser or clingy for texting him.

"That's fine. I was just wondering if there was something wrong or…" she looked around the room as if she was looking for inspiration to break the ice.

"No. just busy."

Zoe didn't respond for a while, expecting him to add some information but it didn't seem about to happen. "You're awful quiet today." Again, no answer from the other side. "Anyways, I was just here wondering if I should prepare myself for a long trip tomorrow…"

"Uh, not really. I don't think I'll be on Raw.

"Well, that's odd, considering that you're the number one contender…" Zoe's lips curled down and her eyebrows were raised.

Randy cleared his throat before answering in the same dry tone. "Yeah, I need to rest my knee. We'll talk later, okay?"

* * *

The usual Monday night schedule was on, though Zoe made sure to warn her brother that his favourite wrestler wouldn't appear. Briefly after the show's theme song finished playing, the girl was settling herself down on the couch with a couple of different packets of chips, a bag of marshmallows and another one of twizzlers. Her brother turned his attention from the tv to her, looking at the different items and wondering where to start.

Once Cameron made his choice, opting for the marshmallows, Zoe removed it from her hands before he could cause a mini explosion of candy and effortlessly opened it, resting it on his legs. Blindly moving his tiny hand as he was too caught up on Wade Barrett's accent, he shoved it inside the bag, grabbing the candy. "Little dude, watch it, I don't want you to get high on sugar." Zoe spoke only to get a nod in agreement as answer, giving her the certainty that he hadn't paid attention.

As the Diva's match was announced, Zoe moved out of the couch to grab her notebook, she planned to do something productive that night and that consisted in taking notes for her upcoming article. Sitting back down, Zoe heard the crowds roar getting loud as a dark brown shirt appeared on the screen.

"Look, Zoe. It's Randy." Cameron crossed his legs up on the couch in a little jump as he poked his sister's leg.

The orange RKO lettering gave place to Randy's face as the wrestler finished lacing his boots and turned around to be facing The Miz. His blue eyes glared at the other man as he flaunted his WWE championship. Instead of listening to the champion's words, Zoe got distracted questioning herself what he was doing there. Being backstage didn't mean he would do more than that…

"Tonight, randy Orton faces Alex Riley in a No-Disqualification match! No- Disqualification, King!" Michael Cole announced as both men were shown in the image.

Not only was Randy appearing on Raw but he was also wrestling. Even if her eyes were glued to the screen, Zoe was definitely not seeing anything. Whereas her brother was more than excited with the presence of his favourite wrestler, she was nothing more than confused. 'Was his injury not that serious? Had he recovered already? Was he blatantly lying?' the woman thought to herself.

"Maybe he doesn't really fight. Maybe the thingy will go beep-beep and say it doesn't let him." Cameron reassured her while he filled his mouth with more candy.

* * *

Time for the main event and, so far, no messages from the General Manager. For ecstasy of her brother, Randy's theme song played and the man walked out, his usual concentration and confidence on display. Zoe was feeling a bit odd herself, her stomach tingling as if she was actually in the presence of that perfect looking human being, but she couldn't help it, reminiscing about their kisses and stupid arguments.

The man already stood in the middle of the ring, pacing, when A-Ri's song hit and he walked out with The Miz by his side. After the newcomer entered the ring, the WWE champion continued to walk aeound the ring, towards the commentators table. "Our champion will be joining us on the commentary for this match." Jerry Lawler informed the viewers.

"Zoe, I want that shirt." Cameron pointed to Miz's 'Hello, I'm awesome' shirt, once the wrestler was shows along with Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler.

With a nod, the girl chuckled. "Oh, you would. We'll get it next time we go to a show." She narroed her eyes to look at a guy in the audience that seemed to sport an old school 'Hulkamania' shirt. "I'm surprised they let him in like that." The brunette thought out loud as she looked for more familiar shirts or interesting signs. Instead, she only noticed a familiar face.

Before she could look any more attentively, the camera changed to the match. But that brunette with small brown eyes, full cheek bones and a big smile, she knew her from somewhere.

Tormenting her knuckles, cracking them over and over again, Zoe mentally went through all the places she knew: college, work, Cameron's kindergarten, the neighbourhood… "Oh my god." Her heart sunk when the picture became clear at last. That woman was Sam, she had seen her in the picture of Alanna that Randy showed her.

Her fingers were placed over her lips, her eyes were on the tv but her mind was occupied by the most recent realization: Randy lied. Not only had he blatantly lied but he had also done so because of his wife, to be with her. Again, it just hit her that he had someone, someone who's supposed to be the love of his life, the woman he is faithful to. Zoe had been in her place precisely two weeks ago, cheering for the same man, taking in every of his moves, but looking at him then definitely didn't hurt as much as it did in that moment.


	17. Chapter 17

The cold weather and dark sky seemed to bring everyone down, more so when the day seems to never end. Zoe sat at the bus stop, stacking her two books and notebook on top of her legs. She looked at her watch and let out a sigh in nuisance when she realized it was a twenty minute wait until her bus arrived. Rather than just sit and take the old ladies complaints about how much the cold weather messed with their bones, the brunette put on her glasses, under the risk of being seen wearing them and winning a life time mockery, turned the volume of her music up and started working in one of her assignments.

It was one of the days when she couldn't wait to feel her pillow under her head but that seemed days away from happening, especially when she had tons of tasks the she could no longer procrastinate to hand in, her brother to pick up and work at the bar again. Cleaning the place didn't grant her the night off contrary to what she believed in. Fortunately, her parents were home for a few days and she didn't have to worry much about looking after Cameron, but she felt so tired that just the small talk needed at home seemed too much trouble.

Zoe, as usual, was struggling to focus. Biting on her pen, balancing it on her upper lip, rocking it back and forth between her thumb and index finger… anything to keep her from concentrating. "This question doesn't even make sense" she thought to herself, sighing and tilting her head back.

The place became a lot less quiet as a group of teenagers walked by, giggling and chatting loudly. Zoe straightened her head up to look at the bunch and while the walked away, and noticed a car parked on the other side of the street, surrounded by another group of people. Instantly, she swallowed a lump in her throat and, as a large man appeared amongst the group for a picture to be taken, her eyes widened. That hint of tattoo on the back of his neck was extremely familiar.

Before the man could turn around, Zoe scooped all of her books under her arm rapidly and took large, quick steps away from the bust stop. Randy _always_ found her and though she was aware that the area was not that big, the girl always wondered how it was possible. She had ignored his texts and calls, that would be enough to tell him she wasn't interested in talking to him – or at least, so she thought.

Feeling a hand on her back, the girl pursed her lips and squeezed her eyes shut, hoping he would magically go away,. It became clear that it was not going to happen when she heard "So now you pretend you don't see me?" As soon as she turned around, she encountered a friendly smirk.

The wrestler kept his hand still on her back, moving his other hand to her waist, pulling her in for a kiss on the cheek. Despite how much he felt like kissing her lips, there was no way he could do it in the middle of the street, more so when he had just been stopped by a few people who recognized him.

Zoe lifted her books, sliding them in between both of them in a failed attempt to step back. So, now she didn't even deserve a kiss on the lips? Although he didn't remove his arms from around her, the brunette continued to look away from his eyes, the headphones still on her ears.

"Hey," Randy brought one of his hands up and pulled her headphones out. "Talking to you. Don't you know that having that in while someone speaks is rude?" the man reprehended her, the smirk now missing from his face. As if the spite she had given him lately wasn't enough to show him something was wrong, her behaviour made it even clearer. When she wouldn't even look at his face, something was incredibly out of place.

"You know what else is rude? _Lying_." She spat out without any further, still not looking at him and trying to focus on the music to block everything else out.

Randy ran his tongue along his bottom lip, nodding his head. "I deserved that." He stated, his hands still on her. Moving his head to the side a bit, the wrestler tried to meet her eyes but unsuccessfully. He gently placed his index finger under her chin, lifting her head and causing her to look at him, at last. With his other hand still on her waist, Orton tried to scoot her closer to him but Zoe pushed herself back. "Come on, baby. You can't be that mad." He let out in a whisper, deeply looking in her eyes as he bit down on his lip and rubbed his thumb against her chin. Everything that would make Zoe – or any other woman – give in.

Exhaling deeply, Zoe turned her face again. For that moment, she wanted to kick her pride in the ass and kiss him, hold him, forgive him for everything and never let him go. But she couldn't, not after she was lied to like that, especially when he had _no_ reason to lie. If it was true that he had gone out of his way to go find her, it was also true that he was acting like he had done nothing wrong; therefore he would hardly be there to apologize.

His hand travelled up and down her back, trying to break her and bring everything back to normal. She was ignoring him when he was right there, _for her_. "I went to your place to look for you and now I was going to the bar to see if anyone could tell me where to find you. I got lucky to find you here on my way and, uh, recognize you with those glasses on." Randy chuckled at mid sentence as he mentioned her glasses. He watched Zoe almost yanking them from her face still not looking or even acknowledging him. "Zoe, what the fuck? You're not even talking to me? What are you, five? Even your brother would be more mature."

"How can you be such an ass?" Zoe stomped her foot down, stepping back after he removed his hands from her. She glared at him, not really aware of what to say besides gratuitous offenses. "You want me to talk to you? Fine, I'll talk to you. How's your knee injury?" her words came out resembling vomit, almost gibberish. Pressing her books against her chest, she pulled out the headphone and crossed her other arm over her books, eyeing Randy.

"I'm not going to have this conversation in the middle of the street." The man shrugged his shoulders quickly, shaking his head from side to side. More than not wanting to cause a scene, he wanted time to figure out what to say, how to excuse the inexcusable.

They both walked to his car, none of them saying anything. As soon as they were both settled in, Zoe repeated her question, no longer in an accusatory or sarcastic tone, she truly wanted to know hat happened, what made him life and most of all, what was it supposed to mean.

"I lied. Is this what you want to hear? I fucking lied." Randy sighed, pausing after each word on the last part. He paused again. "What did you want me to do?"

"Well, telling the truth would have been a good one." A very snarky voice came out as Zoe turned her head to look at him.

"Oh, did you really want me to tell you that I couldn't have you around because my marriage is falling apart and I'm desperately trying to pull everything together by spending more time with the woman I married?"

"Yes! That's actually all I wanted rather than turning on my tv and feeling like an idiot when I saw you!" the woman moved both of her hands while speaking, no longer looking at him.

Orton placed both of his hands on the wheel as his head slowly fell against it. "Zoe, really now… you're even more complicated than I thought." He sighed, nonchalantly. He was genuinely confused by the whole thing. One week she was eager to be with him, another week she wanted nothing to do with him. One week she hated him for mentioning his wife, another week she thinks mentioning her was an obligation.

"Imagine how confused I must be."

Randy lifted his head and glared at her, cutting her off before she could continue. "How confused are you? Because I… I really can't see it. You're not the one who's married with a kid, having whatever this is with another woman."

_Whatever this is. _

Tucking her hair behind her ear, the brunette looked down for a moment. She had repressed all kinds of feelings towards him, towards them. It was hard to begin explaining. "How did we even get here, Randy? We met, you were a dickhead, you met my brother, you showed how sweet you really were and right then, you had me." It was her first time admitting how much she cared, to him and to herself. The silence between them seemed to be turning into a coldness sucking all the air in that car. Zoe slowly straightened her head up to look at Randy, trying to read him. "We helped each other, we were friends, we kissed and now we're here. And you call it whatever."

Randy took a deep breath. The things between them were intense to say the least – they either hated or loved each other and all in a blink of an eye. He often had many opinions on whatever it was they had: sometimes he saw it as a mistake, he head no right to do such thing to Sam. No matter how jealous and insecure she was, he had vowed to be loyal to her. Seeing Zoe so vulnerable and heartfelt speaking about them was definitely not one of those occasions. "Zoe," the wrestler turned to the side a bit, lifting his hand and gently running it through her hair. "I'm sorry you feel that way, I'm just as confused though. I just truly don't know what is this that we have."

"Good thing you only realized that after you kissed me and told me you loved me."

"Come on, you know I didn't mean it like that." Randy caressed her cheek but his movement faded as the look on her face almost resembled a lost puppy's. "You're an amazing woman and you've helped me so much, of course I love you, you're a friend." his words only seemed to make her eyes water even more. "I don't know what this is, I don't know what people call it, I think it's crazy… but I definitely got a thing for you."

Before any tears could roll out of her eyes, Zoe turned her head to look outside, closing her eyes and rubbing her eyelids. After she cleared her throat, she spoke. "I… What do you want me to tell you, Randy? Since you don't even know what you feel and we've only kissed, we haven't done anything that could hurt your wife." She looked back at him, sure of what she was about to say. "So, feel free to put this behind your back and be happy with her."

Randy's eyes widened as she finished her sentence and, when she opened the door, he reached for her hand. Before even touching her, he pulled back.

The brunette's heart skipped a beat and she was almost certain that she would feel his hand on her arm. She _hoped_ she would. But she didn't. "Bye, Randy." She sighed in between words.

Just two words, so painful that she could feel them stinging her tongue.

Part of her still hoped to hear a word from him. _Nothing_.

Slowly, Zoe closed the door behind her and began to walk away from him, steps as determined as she could, feeling each one in her heart, consuming the air she was trying to breathe.


	18. Chapter 18

"I'm telling you, Teddy. I'm done with her." Randy mumbled again, almost stumbling in his own words. He looked down at the beer bottle and nodded his head as if he was engaging a deep conversation with it. "Done." The wrestler repeated, still staring at his beverage instead of at his friend. "And I don't even care." He let out in a laugh, finally looking at Ted.

The younger man waited for Randy to continue his rant. A rant that had been going on for days now and, considering how tipsy he was, it wasn't going to stop anytime soon. Ted wasn't sure of what to say, if anything at all. He was happy that Randy had done the right thing – in his eyes, at least – but the same couldn't be said about his mood. A cheerful Randy wasn't much trouble, contrary to an angry Randy.

"I don't even care!" Randy said yet again, before taking a sip of his beer and shrugging his shoulders. "I don't, Teddy."

"'Cept you obviously do." Ted stated, looking at the other man who turned his head at the sound of his voice and glared at him speechless. "Come on, Randy, you haven't stopped going on about it."

The bar seemed to go silent as both men quit talking, their eyes staring at each of his bottles. Teddy didn't want to say anything because it could possibly enable Randy to go on. And Randy, well, every time he stopped talking, he restarted with an even more heartfelt comment. Opening his mouth and shutting it quickly instead of speaking, Randy propped his elbows on the counter and cradled his face in his hands. "Things have been worst with Sam." He sighed, in a more serious and almost sober tone. "It only reminds me of easy things were with Zoe."

Once Randy's empty bottle was rested on the counter, Ted reached out, gently landing his hand on the other man's shoulder. "We're done here. Go on, go up to your room. You've had enough to drink." He was never one to tell his friends to stop drinking when they seemed to be having fun but that clearly wasn't the case anymore.

With a sigh, Orton was on his feet, holding onto Ted's waist. DiBiase smiled a bit, surprised for almost effortlessly convincing his friend to call it a night. The older man, however, seemed to have an instant change of mind, sitting back down.

"I was happy. When… when I was with her, you know? All the time. Even if we were arguing, I just… found it entertaining." His last words were dragged, with huge pauses between them. He looked at Ted and then around at the bar, the back at Ted. "I…" The man reached his hand into his pocket as he uttered. "I need to call her."

"Oh, God."

"I need to hear her annoying voice." Randy narrowed his eyes and blindly moved his thumb against the screen.

"No." Ted yanked the phone out of his hand. "No. Look at the time. It's two in the morning. It's what, three hours more where she is?" he managed to put it, rather than lecturing him at that point. Knowing Randy like he did, the more someone warned him not to do a certain thing, the more he wanted to do it. In the state Randy was in, there was a very high chance that he wouldn't even remember any of this in the morning.

* * *

Another dreaded morning started for Zoe as she got out of bed, showered, got dresses and made breakfast. She did most of it with one eye closed and without saying a word unless it was absolutely necessary. Her brother was still sleeping as her mother could stay with him for the day and the girl was ready to leave for school.

As she stepped outside, she turned on her iPod and checked her phone with, usually, no messages or missed calls but that morning presented a different scenery.

_1 new message  
__1 missed call  
__1 new voice message_

"Well someone was eager." Zoe thought out loud, sticking her bottom lip out a tiny bit. She pressed the button to open the message and for all she felt, she stopped breathing.

_12/07 5:43 Randy  
__Miss you. _

The only words she had gotten from him ever since they called "whatever" they had quits. Only two words but that seemed irrelevant.

After seeing his name on the missed call, it was easy to anticipate that the voice mail would be from him. She expected it would.

"Hi, Zoe." Long pause. "Hi." Another pause. "I was just thinking of you. I miss you." Pause again, so long that Zoe pulled the phone away from her ear to check if it was over. "I miss you. And… hum… maybe we could see each other? Just, you know… see each other. Because I nee… I miss you." Zoe's jaw dropped at just everything: at his proposition, at how he seemed about to say he needed her and then, at how drunk he sounded, which definitely explained the text she had read before. "I'll meet you at the bar, tomorrow." It ended.

* * *

Around the empty room, Zoe paced, looking around from the walls to the empty tables to her boss. She was more confused than ever: her day had basically been a big blur because she couldn't pay attention to anything, both nervous and excited for that night, even if she had only made the decision to show up twenty minutes before actually doing it.

Her boss was clueless about what she was doing there on her night off, but it was obvious that Zoe was anxious, taking rather large steps back and forth as she crossed and uncrossed her arms over her chest or played with her hands, glancing at the door every time steps were heard coming near.

Aubree walked in her direction, landing her hand on Zoe's shoulder and causing her to stop her heavy stomps. "Honey, do you want a drink or something?" she spoke softly, almost in a whisper, her fingers massaging the girl's shoulder in a friendly, comforting way.

"Yeah." Zoe pulled a chair closely to her and sat down, pushing her hair to the side, slowly running her fingers through her locks. "I want…" she paused, looking at the exposed bottles and then at her boss. "I don't even know." Came out in a sigh as Zoe closed her eyes and shook her head off. She couldn't function, she actually couldn't think about anything that didn't involve her and Randy meeting. Confused about why he wanted to see her, mentally rehearsing what she was going to say… Truth was, she couldn't even phantom her reaction or feeling towards the wrestler at the sight of him.

"You know that if you need to talk…" Aubree bent over and leaned down to face Zoe. She didn't know the whole story but she figured she better stay out of it but she was aware of enough to know it involved a man.

Turning her head and looking at the opposite woman, the brunette gave her a nod and tried her hardest to smile. Aubree was her boss above anything but out of there, they had somewhat of a friendship. Zoe just didn't want to talk to anyone about _whatever_ was going on.

When Aubree straightened up and cleared her throat without saying anything afterwards, Zoe _knew_ he had arrived. As her boss stepped away to behind the counter with a "hi" to the man, the student swallowed the lump in her throat and got up of her seat, turning around to face the door.

"Hi." The man stated. "Randy couldn't come."

Her heart sunk to her stomach when she heard those words, as if it wasn't clear enough that this man _wasn't_ Randy. She bit down on her lip and clenched her fists as hard as she could rather than letting her lip tremble or her hands fly to her eyes to cover them.

Randy had sent Ted to turn the girl down for him.

* * *

"_Why do you fuck up and I have to be the one solving shit for you?" Ted asked right away when Randy finished narrating what he had done after he returned to his room, even before the older man asked him for help sorting everything out._

"_Because you're my friend. You're the wise one." Randy looked at him, pulling a sad face to apologize. "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you."_

_

* * *

_

Ted unzipped his jacket and followed Zoe as she walked silently to the bar to pour herself a drink.

"You want anything?" Zoe asked without looking at him, quickly grabbing two glasses before the wrestler could answer.

"Beer, please."

After sliding the glasses and bottles across the counter, the girl walked around it and took a next on the stool next to him. They didn't have to talk, Zoe didn't expect him to say anything, but since she wasn't working, she might as well at least for once enjoy a drink as a costumer.

They both took a sip out of their drinks, Ted right out of his bottle and Zoe out of her glass of Appletini, and placing his drink down, the man turned his face, looking to glance at Zoe's eyes and try to see some kind of reaction from her. She seemed blank, slowly sliding the glass along the surface, from one hand to another. He didn't know her very well, they had spoken two times and hardly but as she wasn't crying or hitting her head against the wall, she seemed to be taking it pretty well.

A smile appeared on the girl's face when she looked at him by the corner of her eye. "Dude, I'm fine." She chuckled, finally looking at him. And surprisingly, she was. The easiest way for her to deal with everything was to, well, not to deal with it at all. "You know I almost didn't show up? So either _I_ would be here standing like an idiot or _he_ would."

Teddy laughed a bit, nodding his head. "I was kinda afraid you would hit me, y'know?"

"Were you really? By the looks of things recently, I would probably beat you up, no?"

"Hey, my losing streak is not to laugh about, alright?" Ted joked back, aimlessly extending his hand before landing it again around his bottle. When they both stopped laughing, he spoke again. "For what Randy says, you have a bit of an attitude. I thought him not showing would piss you off." He looked down as he paused, licking his lips slowly. "Listen," Ted looked at her again, " I'm sorry he didn't come. I'm sorry he called you, he was wasted, he just kept talking about you…"

"Why are you apologizing for him?"

"He doesn't really think sometimes." Ted answered with a quick shrug.

"I don't either. Which is why we're having this conversation now, I guess." Zoe cut him off, looking at her glass. "It's cool. I guess we're just really done."

Ted went quiet for a while, staring at his bottle. It was clear that they cared for each other, seeing how Randy talked about her and how she was talking about them being done with a bit of hurt. "Yeah, he kept saying that, last night… that he was done with you. But then he said he missed your annoying voice and had to call you."

Letting out a louder laugh, Zoe shook her head. "That's so him. Asshole."

"The drunk speak the truth, I think." Teddy smiled at her, sharing an accomplice look. In that moment, he could sort of understand their dysfunctional relationship: they both shared whatever came into their minds and they were both impulsive. That went for better and for worse. "He's been hard to handle, lately."

Zoe raised her eyebrows, looking at him. "Should I be surprised by this?"

"What I mean is that I think you were keeping him sane." He spoke, looking at the brunette's disoriented face. "You have a normal life, in comparison. You're on the outside."

Unsure of what he meant, Zoe still took his words as a good thing. She didn't understand if Randy wanted him to tell her that and she didn't want to ask but she knew Ted didn't agree with the "connection" between the two of them, so what was the point of him saying all that? Almost as if he read her mind, Ted broke the silence to explain, causing her to turn her head to look at him.

"All I'm saying is that, maybe, the two of you should sit down and have a serious conversation."


	19. Chapter 19

The watch marked one in the morning and, whereas a usual day would be more than over at that point, that was far from being the case. After driving for two hours and sitting in her car for another hour, Zoe was still seated inside of her car, now parked across the street from a nightclub. Somehow, Ted had actually convinced her to join them in one of their nights out after a show. She was unable to remember exactly why she had agreed to this – maybe the appletinis were to blame or how emotionally drained she was that night – but she knew she was there, staying up late before a day of school and work and already imagining excuses to call in sick.

Last time they had spoken, Ted set the hour for her to meet them and he would meet her outside, take her in as his "guest" and force Randy to deal with her. "He's polite and he wouldn't be harsh to a guest" he had said to talk her in in what seemed an amazing idea, judging by his excitement. All Zoe knew was that she was freezing in her car, wearing a dress and make up, rolling her eyes every time she looked at the watch and cursing at life when she tried to pull on her dress to cover her legs a bit more, as if the fabric would magically be extended.

At least, a car pulled out in front of hers and after squinting her eyes to look more closely, wishing and mentally crossing her fingers, the large man came out of the car. Zoe quickly stepped out of hers, displaying a nice smile. Ted placed his hand on her shoulder and pulled her in for a quick hug as he asked if she had waited for very long. "No, not really." She lied through her teeth to keep him from knowing how eager she was to see his friend.

"Everyone's already inside." Ted's information made her even more nervous as they passed though security and entered the somewhat crowded club.

As they walked through the crowd, the noise seemed to be turned down and the people seemed to be making a little corridor for them to arrive to their table. Zoe was _sure_ this wasn't happening in reality but it seemed like everything was making it faster to get to Randy. Her movements stopped at this thought and it wasn't until Ted turned around to look at her, almost with a question mark above his head, that she realized she was just standing there.

She moved again, with an apparent calm but with a proper riot inside of her head. 'What was she going to say to him? What did they have to talk about after Randy clearly turned her down?' she thought to herself as if it was going to help her to be rational.

Before she could plan anything at all, they stopped in front of the Superstars' table and they all looked at both. Zoe glanced at Randy and then noted everyone else, avoiding to meet his eyes.

Ted touched her shoulder gently, as he introduced everyone. "Zoe is my guest" he emphasised the last part and motioned his hands towards each man. "That's John, Mike and Randy – who I believe you have met."

Zoe shook everyone's hands as they were introduced, including Randy's, which was so awkward when she stopped to think of it but it was too late to undo it. When Ted offered himself to go get drinks, the brunette took a seat next to John, remaining quietly as they all chatted and looking around. This seemed a more absurd idea as time advanced and, at that point, Zoe was ready to kill Ted and leave.

Soon enough, Ted returned to the table with drinks and also a few female fans that had approached them. Faster than she could even realize, the men were all standing up and walking around the table for some pictures with the ladies. Again, Zoe stood there sipping on her drink and playing with the straw rather than looking at the bunch.

All chuckling thanks to Mike's imitation of a female voice "Can I get a picture with you?" and "I'd make a whole movie with the blonde one" as his own response, the group sat back down now trying to figure who's drinks were where. As they sorted everything out, Ted slightly leaned his head to the side and whispered "talk to him" to Zoe, getting nothing but a glare from her. Only Ted was between her and Randy, yet he seemed to not acknowledge, let alone have a chat.

"Okay, I'm going to share a little awesome with that blonde girl." Mike insisted, causing everyone to laugh. "John, let's go." He elbowed the man next to him, repeating the gesture after the man shook his head from side to side.

"Only if I want Melina to bitch at me." He pointed out, still shaking his head.

"Come on. Come on. Come oooooooooooon." Mike raised his voice until John got up with him. "My wing man." He winked at Randy as he placed his arm over his friend.

Ted got up out of his seat almost in a jump and dodged Randy's legs to leave the table. "Going for more drinks while there's no one blocking my way out." He turned his head to look at the girl, motioning his head in Randy's direction.

Zoe looked down at her hands resting on her knees and cleared her throat, not really about to say anything but interested in breaking the ice or at least making randy acknowledge her. Detecting a sudden movement from Randy as he shifted ever so slightly in his seat, she lifted her head to look at him.

"Is Ted a match maker now?" Randy spoke. _Finally_. He chuckled a bit and allowed himself to make eye contact with her. "He's trying too hard."

A sigh of relief was the first thing that could be heard from the brunette. A sigh almost too loud if she didn't hold back. She was incredibly relieved to hear him talk to her so normally. "Yeah," she smiled, not sure of what she was agreeing with but that looked like the smallest of things at that point.

The wrestler smirked, looking her up and down, licking his lips before speaking again. "You look great. I had never noticed how long your legs are."

She felt her cheeks turning bright pink and, biting on the inside of her lip, Zoe tried her hardest not to giggle or look like a giddy teenager. "Thank you. Heels." She tilted her head as she pointed down to her shoes.

"Heels and everything? Wow. I feel special."

Not saying anything, the brunette simply stared at him. "This is _not_ for you, you cocky ass." Zoe let out in a laugh, fixing her dress over her thighs and sitting up. It obviously was for him and he _obviously_ could tell but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

"I'm sure it isn't." With a raised eyebrow, Randy still displayed the same smirk, even if not saying a word. His eyes still travelled up and down her legs and then up the rest of her body to meet her eyes.

Zoe opened her mouth and shut it quickly, looking at him with her hands extended and her palms up to complete the clueless look on her face. "Did you really expect me t come to a club wearing a band shirt, jeans and kicks? Come on, Randy."

"Couldn't you have just said it was for me?" Orton looked her in the eyes, the cocky smirk now turned into a warm, friendly smile. "I would have felt the luckiest man if it was."

Hearing his words, Zoe's heart raced like it hadn't happened in a while before. Her stomach turned and her face felt incredibly hot. The girl stopped playing with the straw and took a long sip out of her drink, looking over to the bar. A sip way longer than she needed or felt like taking but it was urgent for her to regain composure. Randy sure knew what to say to her. He still looked at her when she placed her drink down. "But it isn't, so…" she let out impassive, avoiding his eyes. She wasn't sure he had believed her but, as usual, she didn't want to let him win.

Noticing her very indifferent voice, Randy looked her up and down again with a smirk, searching for something else to pick on. "Is that... Is that a tattoo?" he pointed to her foot where a hint of black lettering could be seen along the side.

"Yes."

"You never told me you had a tattoo." Randy scrunched up his eyes, still staring at her foot. "What is it?"

"I don't have to tell you everything now, do I?" She answered with a quick shrug and reached her hand down, pulling her shoe off just slightly and showing "Seize the day" written in Olde English.

Nodding his head in approval, he gazed at the woman again. "When did you get it?"

"I was fifteen and... I got it at the It's-none-of-your-business shop." Zoe sneered. At mid sentence, she realized she couldn't tell him the whole story or he would call her out on it at every chance he got. What seemed to have a deep meaning behind it, had been nothing more than a drunk rebellious act inspired by a song. She still definitely lived by those words but Randy would be better off just trying to make out the story on his own.

Randy leaned back, outstretching his arm and resting it on the back of his seat. He remembered fine well the last time they spoke and she told him he had won her over when he showed how sweet and caring he could be and seeing how spiteful she was becoming in that moment, he felt like it was the appropriate moment to remind her of that. "How's your brother?" Hopefully, she wouldn't realize he was playing that card.

"Oh, he's fine. He talks about you often." Zoe nodded her head. "And now he wants a dog and a turtle. No big deal." She laughed a bit, a more friendly and cheerful tone in her voice.

"He's a cool kid." Randy chuckled, looking around. At the sight of Ted staring at both of them with a smile, the wrestler moved on his seat again, shifting closer to Zoe. Once she looked at him, he rested his elbow on the table and propped it up, running his fingertips along his lips and talking almost without moving them. "Look at Ted creeping over there."

Slowly turning her head, the brunette caught sight of him and looked away, chuckling. "Oh my god, what's wrong with him?"

"I know! I guess he really just wants us to talk."

"We _are_ talking." Zoe shrugged her shoulders, looking in Randy's eyes. "I only agreed to come talk to you because I wanted him to leave it alone. I don't have anything else to tell you."

That was probably the only thing she had been honest about, that night. She didn't know what to say after they decided to stop whatever they had going on and seemed so determined about it. If anything, after that drunk message, he was the one to have something to say. She wanted to ask him how everything was going in his life but the prospects of a heartfelt answer seemed terrifying. She had been his "shoulder" to cry on before and, well, that hadn't gone very well after all.

"If I had picked up… what would I have heard, really?"

The silence between them made it clear that _this _was the conversation that needed to be had. Randy looked down for a moment, inhaling deeply before lifting his eyes again and turning his attention to the brunette. Slowly, he landed his hand on her shoulder and let his hand fall to meet her own. "That I miss you. Despite the mind fuck of it all… you were there for me." Orton rubbed his thumb against the back of her hand then intertwining his fingers with hers. "You're my friend, you know? We had fun and we kissed a few times…"

Swallowing a lump in her throat, the brunette couldn't take her eyes off of him. Not only was he gorgeous with his chiseled jaw, perfect lips and penetrating eyes but he also seemed especially flawless when he showed her his way with words: he was making it sound like there was absolutely nothing wrong with what they were doing and, in that moment, she wanted to agree with him.

Randy leaned his head, grinning. "And they were fucking amazing kisses." He whispered, bringing his hand up and gently running his thumb along her lower lip.

Zoe grabbed his wrist tightly and pushed his hand away, much to the man's surprise as his smirk was no longer on show. Rapidly leaning in, she pressed her lips against his for a brief moment, giving his lower lip a gentle bite as she pulled her head back. "See what you make me do?" The girl looked down at their fingers still locked and let out in a sigh, "Ugh, I hate you."

Randy planted a couple of tiny kisses of his own on her lips and then rested his forehead against hers. "You talk at all the wrong times." A smirk appeared on his lips as he spoke, fondling the back of her hand with his thumb.

She meant every bit about what he made her do: she was determined to only talk to him, she was decided to keep the distance but as soon as he touched her – as soon as she was even near him – all of her certainties went out the window and it as like she had no control over her actions. As for randy, he loved the power he felt when it came to her: he knew he had a certain effect over just about every woman but this was the only time he got to see Zoe so vulnerable, when he pushed her buttons so hard that she dropped the attitude.

Zoe kept her eyes shut until she felt Randy pulling his head back. He threw his arm over her neck and pulled her closer in, laying back on his seat. When the girl's head fell on his chest, she closed her eyes again, feeling his fingertips travelling up and down her arm. They were both feeling so mellow and comfortable with each other that it was almost as if they were not in a club anymore.

"Why can't you always be this easy?" Randy chuckled, looking down at her.

After parting her head from his chest, Zoe looked at him with a smirk. "Why can't you go without ruining everything?"

The wrestler shook his head a few times, laughing as he did. "The more you bitch, the more I like you." he breathed, touching her earlobe with his plump lips. His hands had let go of her and were now on her waist, his lips wandering down her neck very slowly, brushing against her skin ever so tenderly.

"Randy…"

Orton still dragged his lips along her collarbone, leaving a trail of tiny, wet kisses on her skin.

"Randy…" her voice came out louder this time, causing the man to stop and straighten his head up.

"What?" he showed her his most innocent smile as if he was doing absolutely nothing before she called his name. "It's not my fault I missed you."

"It's not my fault you're married."

"Thank you for that…" Randy scoffed, rolling his eyes and removed his arm from around her, sitting back and looking away. When it all seemed to be settling, she attacked him like that. He was trying, he was sure she could tell by how caring he was showing himself and yet, she had to remind him of that detail, throw it in his face almost.

As for Zoe, she quickly regretted her words as soon as she saw Randy not looking at her and biting on his lip as if he was avoiding saying something. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that." She gently rested her hand on his arm, attempting to slightly pulling him closer to her again. She truly didn't mean to sound accusatory or bitter this time, she was just trying to be funny but sadly, she didn't measure her words. "Come on, Orton. You really going to sit there and pout?"

Randy didn't say anything.

"Randy." She rubbed his tattooed arm not for long, before flying her hand to his thigh and resting her head on his shoulder. "Babe, come on. I said I was sorry, do you know how hard that is for me?" Zoe lifted her head to kiss his cheek. He was in fact just _sitting there and pouting_.

He had more than forgiven her after she apologized but she was trying so hard that he couldn't help but enjoy himself. She had never showed herself so sensitive so he thought he might as well enjoy it while it lasted. Feeling another gentle kiss, this time on his jaw, Randy bit down on his lip to keep himself from smiling.

"You know I did really get dressed for you?" She admitted, looking at him with a smile.

In a sudden movement, Randy placed both of his hands on her cheeks as his lips met hers for a long, deep kiss. Once he broke the kiss, a smirk appeared on his face as he raised an eyebrow. "Most women would get _undressed_ for me but that works too."

"We probably shouldn't even be kissing in front of everyone." Zoe pointed out after one glance around. Despite how much she loved getting spontaneous kisses, she felt strange for doing it in front of such a large crowd. After all, he wasn't supposed to be kissing anyone but his wife.

Landing one more defying kiss against her lips and looking around, the wrestler shrugged his shoulders. "I don't give a fuck and, honestly, neither does anyone else here." he gave her a reassuring smile. "Except for Ted, maybe." Orton added, motioning his hand towards the bar. "But wait… I have the Hummer outside and, uh, there's plenty of room in the backseat."

His smirk quickly turned into a big, bright smile, his fingertips still trailing her face and his eyes still focused on hers. Zoe wasn't very sure of how to take his words but they seemed to carry a bit on an innuendo and, at this realization, a smirk formed on her lips.

Although she was already compelled, Randy didn't seem to be done as he whispered in her ear again. "That dress is fantastic and I would hate to ruin it by ripping it off out of your body… but if you keep me hanging like this, that will happen." He spoke slowly and with long pauses, with his deep, dark voice as if he was holding the mic and trying to intimidate his opponent.

On the other side, Zoe didn't need him to say anything else – she was more than convinced. The girl knew whatever was about to happen would haunt her in the aftermath but she also knew that the fair amount of drinks she had would consist of a perfect escape goat. Holding his hand, she pushed herself up and smiled at him.

The wrestler did the same but as he was about to begin to take steps after his friend and towards the door, Randy felt a tap on his shoulder. Even before he turned around, it was easy for him to know who it was.

"What are you doing?"

"Going to take Zo to her car." Randy answered calmly as if he was being truthful. Partially, he was: he was going to take her to a car, just not hers…

"No, no, no. That little smirk isn't of a man who's simply happy about being a gentleman." Ted eyed both of them with a very stern look on his face. "What's happening? Have you guys talked seriously?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, I didn't see any seriousness between you two." The younger man stepped closer to Randy, lowering his voice and turning it into an almost inaudible sound under the blasting music. "You have no emend, man. I bring her here for you to be a grown up for once and you think with your dick?"

Orton took a deep breath and then exhaled vexed, rolling his eyes at the nuisance. He was obviously a grown up which was why he could think with whichever part of the anatomy he chose to. But, to avoid any further discussion, he played innocent for a bit more. "You're right, Teddy. I'm going outside and talk to her. I'm being serious."

Ted nodded his head and waved at the woman as the other man placed his hand on her waist and almost rushed her to leave the place.

Once they both stepped out and walked in the direction of his car, all the excitement to be alone seemed to have faded. They simply looked at each other, Randy with his hands in his pockets and leaning against the impeccable black Hummer, Zoe just standing there, looking down at her heels. Ted was great at playing their consciences, even if they didn't want to admit it. He was always right.

"So…"

"I should probably just go." Zoe forced a smile on her face, glancing at the man. "It's pretty late and it's cold…" she seemed to always have to talk herself into leaving him, no matter they had spent the time fighting or kissing, it was always the most difficult moment.

"Wait…" Randy held her hand lightly and stared at it for a moment, searching for the right words. Once his lips parted to speak, he lifted his head to look at her. "I know it's complicated… but if we fail at least we tried. I don't know how it's going to be tomorrow or in two weeks but right now, you're the one I'm happy with and… _seize the day_, right?"


	20. Chapter 20

Author's Note: Sorry for the lack of developments on this chapter but this is more of a continuation/build up of Zoe and Randy's "relationship". As usual, thanks so much to everyone who has stuck with this story and left all kinds of nice reviews that put a huge smile on my face. :D

* * *

_01/10 4:35 Randy  
__Where are u?_

"Home" Zoe promptly typed as reply, moving her thumb effortlessly and looking at the TV screen, only leaning her head down to check if she hadn't pressed any keys by mistake, before hitting the OK button to send. On the past few days, she could hardly remember the last time her phone hadn't been glued to her hand. Even during the night, if Randy decided to text her, even if she only had one eye open and her brain seemed to be turned off, the girl would still stay up for as long as it took to talk to him. Her life schedule was as messed up as it gets but she felt it was worth it.

Holding her phone between her thumb and index finger, she stared at the device as she spun it around consecutive times, waiting for the screen to be lit. Instead, her hand clutched her phone tightly when the sound of the door bell seemed to be ten times louder than usual, as she wasn't expecting it, causing her to give a tiny jump and leave the crossed legs position she was sitting in, landing on her feet. Her brother continued to look at the TV as if he hadn't heard the same as she did.

She took a few hurried and large steps towards the door, unaware that the phone was still on her hand, and after unlocking the door with a rapid twist of her wrist, Zoe opened the door slightly to peek through the little space. Faster than any previous movements, she landed her hand on the wood surface and pushed the door open completely. "Oh my god!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands around the large man's neck and standing on the tip of her toes to peck his lips a couple of times before he pulled her in for a deep kiss of his own. "What are you doing here?" she continued holding closely, now fiddling the back of his neck as her face was buried on the crook of his neck.

"Nice to see you too." Randy finally spoke in a very sarcastic tone but with a smirk mirrored on his face, his hands on Zoe's slim waist. Her first reaction to the surprise of seeing him was to ask why he was there and though he knew she didn't mean it as if he was interrupting something, the man always thought it wasn't a very warm welcome. "You said you were home…"

"It took you like, 50 seconds to get here. How did you even -"

"Yeah, let's just say that this would have not worked well if your answer was different." The wrestler let go off her waist and leaned back to look at her, resting his large hands on her shoulders and letting them fall along her arms until they wrapped her own hands. "I have one hour before I have to leave to the airport and I _needed_ to see you." His blue eyes met hers as he brought their hands up together and planted a gentle kiss on the back of each of her hands.

She swooned. So much, that she was surprised the words "marry me" hadn't escaped from her lips or wasn't taking a massive heart attack because the speed of her heart beats – the _thumps_ echoing from her heart – seemed to be close to lead her to that. Fortunately, she disguised the feeling with a shy, almost embarrassed, "aw". Zoe let go of one of his hands and pulled him inside, closing the door behind them. "You should have told me you were coming." She pointed her hand in her own direction, up and down her very used up Motorhead shirt and plain boy shorts.

"But then it wouldn't be much of a surprise, would it?"

"Yeah, but…" The brunette pursed her lips, still looking down at herself. "Last time you saw me, I was in a dress, high heels and make up." Although _that_ was the unusual look, she didn't want to look anything less than acceptable in his eyes and even if she knew she wouldn't have been wearing a dress, she would at least have taken her hair out of the messy bun, lost the glasses and _not_ worn a band shirt again, as she was almost positive a comment would be aimed at it.

However, before she could use any more excuses, Randy's lips were being pressed against hers again as he slowly backed her up through the little corridor. "You look just as beautiful. Motorhead goes with the glasses." He joked after he broke the kiss, rubbing his fingers against the small of her back. Making fun of her was mandatory – so much that he was afraid she would be worried if he didn't do such thing.

"Oh, wait." The girl placed her hand on his chest, holding his movements and with a quick spasm of her neck, she pointed towards the living room, letting out "Cameron" under her breath. As soon as Orton peeked inside the room and gave her a nod of acknowledgment, Zoe continued. "No kissing, no compromising touching, no sexual innuendos. I mean this, Randy. Behave."

It was a shame that he wouldn't be able to spend that little time with her exactly the way he intended to but he turned his puppy dog look into a straight face, nodding and kissing her one last time. They hadn't discussed what they could do where and in front of who but, at that time, it seemed only logic that they couldn't act suspicious in front of a child that possibly wouldn't understand the concept of a few uncommitted kisses.

"Look who's here, Cam." Zoe announced as she stepped in the room followed by Randy, whose arms were instantly outstretched as soon as the boy turned around.

Cameron took fast little steps in the wrestler's direction and, as the man crouched down, he wrapped his arms around his neck. The similarities between the siblings in the way they showed their excitement about seeing him were clear and, at this realization, a bright smile danced on the man's lips. "How are you, little champ?" Orton tickled the boy's stomach before he could answer.

The girl stood beside them, taking in the whole thing. She knew how much of a good dad Randy was and seeing how caring he was to the most important person in her life surely touched her dearly. "Do you want anything, Randy?" her lips finally parted to infringe the moment.

"You." He stood up and pivoted his body to look at the girl. "Sitting next to me on the couch, that is." He couldn't help but to turn it into a little pun but he tried to redeem himself as fast as possible.

Before Zoe could make any comments, his phone rang. Reaching down into his pocket, the wrestler let out a barely audible "sorry", pulling the phone out of his pocket. Only words that he couldn't utter popped in his head as he read Ted's name on the flashing screen. "Yes?... Ted, Ted, that's not what I said." He motioned his hand before flying it to the back of his head, tuning around. "I said that's what _you_ needed to tell Sam if she called you." After a couple "uh-huh" and a "bye", he pressed the button to end the call. Storing the phone back in the pocket of his leather jacket and without lifting his eyes, Orton sat down on the couch, next to the girl.

The sound of the TV was the only thing that could be heard in those seconds of silence, that seemed more like years, between Zoe's foot tapping against the floor and Randy's fingers trailing the collar of his jacket. "Sam" sounded like a forbidden name, the worst of all words and they both seemed to feel the same judging by how they couldn't even _look_ at each other. Randy exhaled deeply, making a loud noise and cleared his throat in an unsuccessful attempt to make her look at him. Still, he had to say something. "I'm sorry, it's just…"

"No, it's… okay, really."

"It's not, I have to explain." He rested his hand against her thigh and inclined his head to look at her. He knew how upset she always got when he mentioned his wife, he _needed_ to explain. "To have this spare hour, I told Sa – I told her that I was going to pick Ted up to give him a ride and explained this to him, in case she called him to check." Nothing from her, not even a look. "But of course, Teddy had to be confused and thought I was really going to pick him up. "

Forcing a smile on her lips, the brunette looked at him, at last, patting his hand still on her thigh. "It's not a problem. I'm okay." She nodded her head, almost only to herself and shrugged her shoulders. She _should_ be okay because she was not able to tell how it always got to her so much but it couldn't be helped, she couldn't even sound convinced saying she didn't have a problem with it.

"You're a crappy liar."

"Sorry I'm not a brilliant liar like you." _There_. There she was, ruining everything again by not being able to hold back on her passive aggressive ways. Randy's eyebrows met and though he didn't say or do anything, Zoe could only imagine he would have loved to get up and leave. "I didn't mean it, Randy." She corrected, trying to erase what she had said before.

"You did." His hand was out of her thigh now and he focused on the TV. "You always do." The man shook his head from side to side. Every time he was with her, everything was just a huge Déjà Vu. He said something wrong, she acted like it was okay, he tried to make it better, she made a sarcastic remark to make it all worse, they argued. _Every single time_.

"I'm sorry." There was the usual insincere apology, followed by an awkward silence.

There was the shrug of acknowledgement from Randy, his time to play hard to get, hoping she would turn the apology into something sincere and, maybe, almost beg for him to forgive her.

Zoe poked her brother with her elbow, causing him to look at her. "Cam, you know that drawing you made at school, of the ring and everything?"

The boy nodded and jumped out of his seat. "Yes, I go get it."

Just as soon as he entered his room and they saw themselves alone, Zoe looked at Randy again and placed her palms on the man's cheek, making him look at her. "Randy, I'm sorry. I am. You know I never think before I speak. You know I appreciate you being here. I -" There was the heartfelt apology.

He didn't wait to look for her lips with his own, interrupting her with a passionate kiss. It was ridiculous how caught up he got by her little spite but truth was, he took it as nothing more than a challenge, a provocation. He had always been like that: he wanted what he couldn't have. He loved how she pushed him away and it drove him crazy how vulnerable she got afterwards, how she wanted to make it right with him _so_ bad.

A little against her will, Zoe pulled her head back slowly, breaking the kiss and looking around the room. "You weren't supposed to be affectionate. What if we got caught? How would I explain this?"

"I can't _not_ kiss you when we're together. We've tried that, remember?" he smirked, with his thumb against her chin and then dropping his hand to the side of her neck, caressing it softly. "And getting caught it's actually pretty exciting, sometimes."

"Does that mean I'm forgiven?" Zoe murmured, trying as hard as she could not to twist his words even more, telling herself not to pay attention to the shameless insinuation and, most of all, trying to ignore the way he kept touching her.

"How can I stay mad at you?" Orton whispered against her lips, in between light kisses.

Déjà Vu. He said something wrong, she acted like it was okay, he tried to make it better, she made a sarcastic remark to make it all worse, they argued, _they made up_. Every time.


	21. Chapter 21

On the warm inside of the once parked car, Zoe was inclined on the seat, trying to stand under the light to illuminate the small mirror she was holding in her hand in an attempt to retouch her make up – this had been going on for the past fifteen minutes and, though she was going to be late, it seemed vital for her to look her best: this was her turn to go meet up with Randy and since he was finally considerably near by, the girl convinced herself to take the four hour trip, meet him at the hotel and stay over with him until it was time for his flight. The down part in the entire tale was the little detail of her need to walk through the lobby where most of the roster would be, according to the wrestler's information. She was aware she had to do it at some point but procrastinating seemed fantastic until she could find the will to do it.

With a sigh of near disheartenment, the brunette asked herself why she had agreed to do it, as usual with everything involving Randy. She wasn't sure if it had been the sleep taking over her in the late night she was having or if Orton had once again showed her his way with words, but there she was, talking herself into leaving her make up alone and exiting the car. In this way, she dropped the mirror inside of her handbag and running her fingers through her dark hair before pushing it to the side, Zoe pushed the door open and stepped out of the car, at last, making her way inside.

At the counter, the girl explained her situation to the gentle woman in a very tidy uniform and a huge, brilliant smile on display, after she informed her of her name. "Yes, miss Zoe. Mr. Orton informed us you'd be arriving and he's on room 131, waiting for you." she informed Zoe in what sounded like a British accent, lifting up the ear piece of the phone. "May I get you help upstairs? Have you got any bags?" As a quick response, Zoe shook her head from side to side, adding that she could go alone. She was already nervous as it was and the idea of giving someone courteous smiles and make small talk, seemed nothing less than torture.

Taking slow, careful and steady steps, trying to hide how clumsy she was walking in heels, the girl made her way through the hotel bar, not lifting her eyes from the floor – mostly to avoid being recognized by the wrestlers she had met. Lastly, she entered the elevator where two Divas already were. After a polite smile, the girl turned her back on them and stood closely to the doors for the quick ride up.

Zoe stepped out of the small space and as soon as the doors closed again, she let out a loud sigh of relief for not being recognized so far, not even by Alicia Fox in the elevator, who she had met on the same day she met Randy. It was time to look for his room and mumbling the numbers "131" under her breath, the brunette glanced at every door as she walked through the corridors. At the sight of the little plaque with the numbers, she took a breath, ran her palms down the sides of her body to fix her dress and without hesitation, she brought her hand up and knocked on the door.

By that time, she had braced herself to head the sound of his voice but instead, from the other side, she heard the sound of the doorknob being twisted and before she could think about anything else, the door was fully open and Randy was standing in front of her with a grin on his face as his eyes wandered up and down her body.

"Wow." He stated solely, extending his hand out to gently grab a hold of hers and pull her inside to gently kiss her. "You look… stunning." Randy continued to hold her hand while the other one rested on her hip, fiddling the fabric of the dress. This time he expected to see her in normal wear and he couldn't help but to present his biggest smile, knowing she had gotten dressed up especially for him. It was obvious that he couldn't say it out loud or he would risk not ever seeing her try hard to impress him.

"My confidence has dropped a notch, after sharing the elevator with Maryse… but thank you." Zoe chuckled, tippy toeing to peck his cheek. She took a tiny step back to look at him and return the compliment. "You look nice."

"Just nice?"

Raising her eyebrow and flying her hand to her chin, the brunette pretended to give it a little thought, staring at the smirking man, with his arms outstretched and pointing to himself. "Pretty would be the word… you know, like a princess." She mocked him, contemplating his flawless Affliction shirt that suited his body so perfectly. She, of course, couldn't abuse on the compliments or she wouldn't be able to put up with his ego afterwards.

"Damn, you can't just say one nice thing, can you? Without sarcasm or puns." Randy let out a loud laugh.

"Oh, boo hoo." Zoe wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out. "You know, a compliment is not a compliment if you have to ask for it."

Settling both of his hands on her waist again, Orton bit down on the corner of his lip as, with a quick and incisive moment, he pulled her body closely to his. "Does that mean I'll have to earn them?" the man questioned, murmuring almost against her lips as their noses softly touched each other a couple of times.

"You might have to."

Without any hesitation or further thought, Randy accepted the challenge and, lowering his large hands to grip down on the brunette's rear end as his blue eyes looked for hers, he lifted her up with ease and gently ran one of his hands along her thigh to wrap it around his own waist, a movement that was hastily repeated by Zoe, doing the same with her other leg. He stole a few kisses before giving full attention to her neck and chest, leaving a path of delicate kisses all over her skin. "How am I doing?"

The girl's lips parted after she straightened her head to look at him. "Not bad, Orton." She smirked cockily as Randy himself would do and, landing her palms against his cheeks, she leaned her head and guided her lips to his for a long kiss.

As their tongues wrestled each other and their hands found their way on each other's skin, Randy moved slowly in direction to the bed and with a smirk, he positioned the girl in the middle of the bed, standing on his knees in between her legs. As soon as she clumsily kicked off her heels, the wrestler moved his body away from hers and, moving back up slightly, he leaned down to press his lips along her thighs in very quick and small kisses. "How about now?" he raised his eyebrow and lifted his head to look at the brunette.

"I don't know, Randy…" she answered in her most bland voice and pursed her lips, trying her hardest to keep a serious face.

In a quick movement, Randy grabbed the edge of his shirt and lifted his arms, yanking it off and aimlessly tossing it to the floor with a proud smirk. In that moment, he had to brace himself not to point at his defined, tan abs because he was sure Zoe would take it as asking for a compliment and _that _was not what he wanted anymore. The man lowered his body again and looked for the brunette's lips, his hands travelling up and down her sides very lightly.

Zoe felt her heart pounding faster at his every kiss, at his every touch despite how gentle or rough, at his every smirk and, for a moment, she feared he could tell how eager she was. Things between them had always been intense but "intense" had never been close to being good and the girl was suddenly taken by the anxiety versus the regret she was feeling I advance. Interrupting her trail of thought, Randy's hands were between her back and the mattress as he looked to unzip her dress so she quickly pushed herself up slightly to ease his task. After this, his lips were pressed against hers again while he blindly slid the black dress down her body.

Her hands stopped roaming along his muscular, tattooed arms and she pulled back from the passionate kiss as a barely audible Metallica song began to play. "Randy?" she breathed out with effort.

Not a word from the man as he gave all of his attention to her neck, biting and kissing her skin, switching from rough to soft at her every sound as his fingers were trailing her already bare skin and finding their way inside of her underwear. He heard his name being called again, almost in a faint voice in what he took as a sound of approval. "You like that, baby?" He distanced his head from her neck to look at her with a smirk.

"No, your phone's ringing." Zoe sighed, pointing down at his jeans' pocket. It instantly became obvious were the sound was coming from once the girl felt a vibration against her leg.

Almost in a jump, Randy sat up and shoved his fingers into his pocket, grabbing the phone and pulling it out. "Fuck, I'm sorry," he shook his head from side to side before looking at the flashing screen and letting out another "fuck". Orton pressed the key before he could miss the call and have to come up with an explanation for it.

With a glazed over look on her face, Zoe nibbled on the inside of her cheek, observing the man as he turned his back on her and walked to the balcony. His progressively loud voice quickly pulled her back down to earth and, though she wished she could not hear a thing, she heard enough to understand who he was talking to – who he was _lying_ to. "Yes, I'm alone! Who d'you expect me to be with?... I was with him but… I needed to come up to my room." The wrestler vehemently affirmed, much to the girl's discomfort: she hated lies and arguments, especially when she was the cause of them. In that moment, she wished she wasn't there, she wished she hadn't gotten into this – _into him_. "Yes, alone." She heard him repeat, almost in a sigh.

After finishing the call, Randy took a deep breath, ran his hand against his head and he was ready to step inside, finding Zoe pulling her dress up and blindly moving her arms back to zip it. "I'm sorry," the man said, sounding a lot less loud than what it seemed in his head. His cell phone was back in his pocket, his shirt was back on and he stood down the bed just looking at the brunette and waiting for her to face him. Once she finally did so with a smile, a grin of his own washed over his face as it became clear she wasn't upset. "I'm so sorry, Zo." He almost jumped into the bed to sit next to her.

"Oh, it's okay." Zoe shrugged. "I should probably leave though."

Both of them knew the night was no longer going to go as planned but Randy didn't want it to be over like that. "Don't leave. I know this night is not going to be special anymore but… don't leave." His hands cradled her face and his thumbs rubbed against her cheeks as he pressed his lips to hers. "My life is just ridiculous, right now. You make it seem more normal, at least for a while."

From her, just a nod and a kiss in return. What they had wasn't exactly normal but she figured it wasn't the time to point that out. After a moment of silence, she spoke. "Have you noticed that we never, ahem, go all the way? There's always interruptions."

"Yes, and?"

"I don't know. Everything happens for a reason and maybe it's a sign." Zoe answered, looking at him.

Chuckling at the girl's words, Randy shook his head off. "That's crazy. I mean, I don't usually need a sign to have sex…" he looked at her with a smile and threw his arm around her, scooting her closer. Ted tended to be his conscience and look after him, trying to avoid stupid actions from him so it was very normal to have been interrupting by him and Sam's call – _well, that was her need to control him, nothing to do with signs from the universe_, the man thought to himself, rolling his eyes to accompany the thought.

The room went silent again, Zoe resting her head on Randy's shoulder and her hand travelling up and down his stomach. She, for one, wasn't sure, especially after that call. She always felt guilty about being "close" to him, about spending time with him, about her feelings for him but lately, seeing how suspicious his wife seemed to have gotten and how many lies he seemed to tell her, it was like she couldn't repress the feeling of guilt anymore.

The wrestler leaned his head down and kissed her head, ran his fingers through her dark hair, roamed his hand along her arms… everything in hopes of getting a few words or a sound from her. He could tell there was something bothering her. "What is it, babe?"

"Just…" she let out a loud, heavy sigh as if she was trying to lift a weight from her shoulders. The brunette tilted her head to look up at him. "It feels wrong."

"Was I too pushy? Was it the call? Did Ted tell you something earlier? Did _I_ say something wrong?" his words came out as a flood as if he had no power over them and he couldn't even be certain that the girls had understood his words. His face was blank while he still looked at her, genuinely confused. She was clearly into him, they obviously had fun together and things seemed to be working just fine in their own little way – what was wrong now?

Still nothing from her.

"I'm leaving Sam." He spat out as the desperation spoke, once again before he could give it any thought. He didn't know what was happening but he knew he wasn't going to lose her. He just couldn't let her leave his life like that, there was no reason for it to happen all of a sudden, when all seemed to go well.

"Are you that desperate to have sex with me?" The girl laughed out, pushing herself away from his body. _He's not leaving her_, she reminded herself. She didn't know why he chose that time to say such thing but she had heard enough stories to know that unfaithful people all said that at some point.

"I'm serious. I can't deal with Sam anymore. Babe, she calls me all the time, even if she knows I'm working. I get backstage to what, ten missed calls? Then I get home and she picks a fight on every fucking thing... I can't handle it." Randy spoke clearly with a bit of bitterness in his voice. "I'm leaving her." He repeated, to convince her _and_ himself. With his hand against her cheek, he kissed her deeply and, as their lips parted, he whispered against them. "Zoe, I'm leaving her."


	22. Chapter 22

**Author's note:** As usual, a big thank you to everyone who has reviewed my story so far and to the new readers, I hope you've enjoyed this so far. Feel free to send me any feedback, criticism or suggestions - anonymous reviews are enabled. :) Sorry for taking longer than usual to update this but I was very unsure of what to do next and wasn't being nice to me either when it came to letting me updating.

* * *

After tossing and turning for what had already been half of the night, Randy slowly lifted the covers only enough to push his legs out, land his feet on the floor and push himself out of the bed. As quick as he could, the man pulled the covers back up before his wife could feel something moving and wake up.

The room was as peaceful as it was dark and the wrestler took a couple of careful steps to grab a shirt that lied all creased up on top of a chair. Once he managed to put in on without turning on the lights, he marched through the dark room slowly towards the door, praying not to hit anything and wake her up – his arms were stretched and his palms in front of him, making sure there was no forniture or shoes in the way to keep him from advancing. At the feeling of a wooden surface, the man moved his hand to find the doorknob. As soon as he found and twisted it, pulling the door open, there was finally a stream of light coming from the half lit corridor. Randy stepped out and before he closed the door behind him, he looked at his wife resting and let out a sigh.

Downstairs, the man sat on the porch and after hesitating, thinking once and again, he lit a cigarette. 'Sam will kill me when she finds out' Orton thought to himself and shook his head from side to side as if he was scolding himself. He had quit something before his daughter was born and he had successfully fought all the urges up until then but in that moment, with everything going on in his head, and everything he was hiding here and there, from his friends and family, that one cigarette seemed a small and instant escape. If she would make a fuss because of a cigarette, he could only happen if she found out something _more serious_.

Looking around and taking a few deep breaths between hits, he tapped his fingertips against his knee. The days off would be over for him in just a matter of hours and it would all go back to the same – fights over everything and nothing at all, secret calls and texts to _someone_ who would understand him and make it all better and in the aftermath, the guilt in the downtime. And guilt was something that had become almost unbearable on the past few days: everything was close to being perfect, no silly arguments. At every family moment, Randy felt as if he looking at themselves from the outside and to be quite honest to himself, they looked like the perfect family.

Ted's speech from their last conversation rang in his ears. "You're a man, a grown man. You're married, you have a kid. Shit won't always be easy, you'll make mistakes… but you're a man. Be a man. Accept the consequences and live with them."

Then his own words echoed in his head. "I'm leaving Sam", he had promised Zoe in an outflow that sounded right when he said it, out of desperation and lack of anything convincing to say. Ted didn't know the half of it, no one did and so Randy had to deal with his duelling feelings on his own. Hell, "duelling" seemed a euphemism every time he compared the two women: it was a battle of sentiments, a dispute of thoughts, a full on war of wills.

"What am I doing?"

* * *

Inside of the now empty locker room, Orton was sitting down with his elbows propped up on knees as he thoroughly removed the black tape from around his wrists. One of the biggest advantages of being on the main event, was to stay with the crowd when the cameras stopped rolling thus being one of the last guys still backstage and on that particular night, it couldn't be better.

The lack of sleep had gotten the best of him and just about everything seemed reason enough for him to start punting everyone in the skull, so, without losing any time, the wrestler shoved his clothes in his bag, careless about them being unfolded and in his head, he planned the rest of the night – twenty minutes from the arena to the hotel in his bus so he didn't have to mingle with anyone but his family, quick shower as soon as he stepped foot in his room and, hopefully, without any of the guys texting or calling him to ask if he wanted to go out, a _decent_ night of sleep.

Just as he landed his hand on the bag handle, Randy heard a knock on the door, causing him to let out a quick "yeah?" right before he turned his head to face the already semi-open door.

"There's someone here to see you."

"Oh, tell Sam I'm all ready to go." Randy shot over to the large man standing at the door.

"It's not Sam." A much smaller figure and a much softer voice replaced the security guard's as she peeked through the space, eyeing Randy with a smile.

Orton let go off his bag and stepped towards the door fast as if his life depended on it – and, partially, it did, because he could only imagine what his wife would think if she saw a woman getting in his locker room. With his hand around the woman's arm, he yanked her in and closed the door behind them. "Zoe, w – what are you doing here? How did you get backstage? Why didn't you tell me you were coming?"

"It's obvious that you're happy to see me." The brunette rolled her eyes and moved her arm to free it. Standing in front of the quiet man, she locked eyes on his and hoped he would draw a smile on his face at any time and wrap his arms around her. "Well, I came to see you. The security guy remembered me and that we knew each other, so he just let me in." She added, still hoping to get some reaction from him.

Loosening the grip around the girl's arms, the wrestler inhaled deeply before speaking, trying not to sound upset. "Sam is here tonight… you shouldn't be here," he looked at her and frowned as he tilted his head to look down, escaping her eyes. "You should have told me you want to come."

"That wouldn't be much of a surprise, would it? Besides…" Zoe took a step to meet the man, landing her hands on his shoulders and biting down on the corner of her lip. "I thought you said getting caught was hot." She almost purred, trying her hardest to impress him and, pushing herself up slightly, she tried to reach his lips but before they could touch, Randy grabbed her wrists and pried them from his chest, leaning back to dodge the kiss.

"I did _n__ot _mean caught cheating… by _my wife_."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that your marriage was a priority. Where have I been lately?" The girl face palmed and quickly spun on her heels to step towards the door. "What even led me on? 'Cause your marriage is perfect. It's not even like you ever told me you were leaving her on anything."

* * *

Moving the little red straw in circles and with it dragging the ice cubes, making a clonking noise against the glass, Zoe looked at the circular movements as if she was staring out the window, hypnotized by a beautiful landscape or something of that sort. She had, in fact, not even realized that the ice was soon to be gone. In the mood she was in, two worlds could have collided and she wouldn't notice it.

She had decided to have a couple of drinks before catching her flight and heading home. Taking a five hour flight to go see him was something she was now regretting, at the recognition that all the contact she had with him was a two minute argument in a stinky locker room. At times like these she completely understood how crazy things were getting, how crazy _she_ was getting for him. After taking a sip out of her drink, she let out a sigh of frustration: Zoe had talked herself into not believing he would leave his wife but part of her still hoped he would do something about it and for him to be so cold and turn into a prude all of a sudden was surely the last thing she expected.

"That's a man's drink."A male's voice pulled the brunette back to earth and with that, an instantaneous lift of her head to look at the man who, while she was torturing herself with her own thoughts, had taken a seat on the stool next to hers.

"Well, I'm using a straw so I'm guessing that takes the masculinity out of it." Zoe answered the tall, bleached blonde haired man sitting next to her.

"Fair enough." His lips curled down as he nodded his head before cracking a smile. "Though I've seen a lot of men using a straw."

Drawing a forced smile on her face, Zoe nodded her head and turned her attention to the glass again. It wasn't her intention to come off as rude but looking at how her night went, socializing wasn't in her plans.

On the other hand, the man had other plans in mind and cleared his throat to regain her attention, before his lips parted. "I'm Dolph Ziggler." He smirked with confidence as he extended his hand out.

She was aware of who he was but in that particular night, she didn't care. It could have been Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold Steve Austin or The Rock sitting next to her and though she was a wrestling fan, she wouldn't be able to show herself excited. However, once again to avoid being indelicate, she let go off her drink and extended her hand to shake his. "Zoe."

Complementing the hand shake, Dolph landed his other hand on top of hers. "That's a beautiful name. Very fitting."

"Hum, thank you." She chuckled, not sure about what he meant and pulled her hand from his grip.

"So, were you at the show?"

Zoe nodded her head in agreement, her hands now gyrating the glass on the surface, much to avoid looking at the man.

"Oh, keeping the boyfriend company, or…?" The wrestler insisted once more, the same warm smile still on display.

"No, I don't…" Zoe paused, sighing before continuing. "No."

"Well – "

"Ziggler!" Orton's voice almost echoed in her ears, interrupting his fellow wrestler and causing her to turn her head to look for his presence.

Randy rested his hand on the counter, between Zoe and Dolph and after a brief glare at her, he stared at the opposite man as he spoke. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

Ziggler's smirk disappeared and the man seemed not to blink – or breathe, for that matter. Zoe's eyebrows met and her eyes travelled between both men, awaiting for any of them to laugh at any moment and make it clear that they were just joking with one another.

"I asked you a question." Orton's voice became deeper as he leaned his head in slightly, resembling one of his "viper" moments.

"Why, is there a pro –"

"Yes. There is a problem." He added long pauses between words and Zoe felt as if she was truly watching that man in a ring, intimidating his opponent right before leaving him laying on the mat after an RKO. He lifted his hand from the surface and landed it on Dolph's chest with a painful slapping noise, fitting his body between the stools and completely removing the younger man from the brunette's sight. "She is not one of the ring rats you pick up and add to your fuck-tree." Orton removed his hand from the other man's body and stepped back. "Now get the fuck out of my sight."

Dolph pushed himself up out of his seat and fixed his shirt, glancing at the brunette. "Nice meeting you" a smile still appeared on his lips before he turned his back on them, not looking at the other man anymore.

Without facing each other, Zoe and Randy stood motionless and silent. She was genuinely speechless and confused and Randy didn't know if he should just leave without any explanations or apologize for the outburst. Either way, it only seemed right for someone to break the silence.

"What on earth was that?"

The man turned his head to the opposite side after hearing her question, looking around at the barely lit space and asking himself the same thing. He never had any issues with Dolph, he never cared about who he was speaking to or trying to pick up, but as soon as he walked in that bar and spotted the wrestler talking to that one person… "Listen," he turned his body slightly to stand facing her before continuing. "I… I didn't want him to touch you. I don't want any man other than me to touch you, I can't stand the thought of that."

"You don't own me."

"I know I don't." He interrupted her, lowering his head to her level and giving her a nod. "I know I don't, but…"

"You know what? I don't care. You make no sense, Randy. We're not together and you can't keep me hiding away from men if you're not going to do something about it." She widened her eyes as she spoke and shook her head assertively as she tried to make her point. Turning her head to look at the glass still in front of her, the brunette murmured again, "you make no sense."

He figured he shouldn't question her. He was not making sense, in his head nothing was. He put himself in her place and it as confusing but at that point, there was too many people he needed to be tactful about; too much at stake. "I like you." he sighed in a fail attempt to make it all better.

"No, you don't." Their eyes met again. "You like the idea of me, of how easy everything could be with me. You like the thrill of hiding."

His palm flew to her cheek, cupping it gently. "And you don't?"

"No. I actually like _you_." The nervousness made the brunette chuckle as she moved her face away from his hand, now using her own hand to cradle it. "I like your kisses, I like how you get on my nerves about everything, I like how caring you are. Just... you."

Randy could be heard swallowing hard after her heartfelt statement. More than ever, he felt like he couldn't hurt her, though she was already hurt. He continued to stare at her, waiting for her to remove her hands from her face and look at him again. Once she did, she only had one thing to say.

"Make up your mind. Please."


	23. Chapter 23

"You'll have to talk to me at some point." Randy sighed, rolling his eyes and giving his shoulders a quick shrug. He was trying, he had been trying for the past few days, and he got nothing but the silence treatment from her. His texts and calls had gotten no answer so his resolve had been to appear at her work but not even that solved the problem: the question "what are you doing here'" were the only words he got from her and this time, she didn't say it gleefully right before going for a hug. She simply said it and stood with her feet planted on the floor, behind the counter.

For Zoe, her night was apparently going normally – she continued to do her job, chatting with costumers or cleaning around as if Randy wasn't there. It was difficult, especially when she could feel his eyes following her around the room and his constant attempts to suck a few words out of her. She really didn't want it to happen and she would have thought that her plead would have been enough for him to consider what's doing and _only then_, talk to her. Admittedly, she had been a pushover in everything related to him but she wasn't dumb: he had a way with words and they both knew it. the last thing she needed was to have him sweet talk her and make everything ever harder for her.

Randy shifted his body on the stool just slightly and pushed himself away from the counter to pivot his body, taking a better look at the brunette. A small cackle escaped him when she crossed her arms across her chest and turned her head to the side, making it seem like she was focusing in some point in the room. "Pout." He teased her with his lips forming a smirk and his eyes fixed on her, only getting an 'hmph' sound from her. She was such a child sometimes; he couldn't help it but to find it quite adorable, very like himself: when things didn't go their way, they'd put on a front, bitch and moan and if it all failed, have a temper tantrum. "Come on, all that's missing on your little act is a pout."

Exhaling deeply, the girl began tapping her foot on the floor. It wasn't an "act", she was truly bothered by his presence, by his glares, by his voice. Her latest resolution had been to block out any thoughts of him but, of course, if she tried to get rid of those thoughts, she was already giving them too much importance. She didn't have much on her mind lately as everything in her life seemed to be settling, but what she did have was a double edged sword – like everything between her and the wrestler, when it was good it was great but when it was bad, it was awful. Her thoughts went very much like that too, she could reminisce about a perfect occasion between them and smile like a fool, feel like calling him and tell him how much he meant to her or recall one of their arguments and want to never talk to him again.

"Ah, the foot tapping. Good call." Randy nodded his head and motioned his index finger in her direction before taking a sip out of his beer. "Is it too cliché if I tell you how cute you look when you're mad? Well, when you _pretend_ you're mad." The man pushed her a little more with a bashful smile.

She scoffed something inaudible under her breath but it still caused him to laugh as he imagined he was actually getting under her skin. After she shrugged it off, she swallowed her will to shoot every inappropriate words she could think of at the wrestler and walked around the counter once again. Soon she would be forced to stop when Randy's arm appeared across her stomach, grabbing her waist.

The man's shape became bigger right in front of her after he got up off his seat, stopping in front of her and pulling her in closely. His face was serious, as she could see from the corner of her eye, leaning his head to speak closely to her in a low voice. "Do I have to kiss you in front of everyone to get a reaction out of you?" His hand flew to the side of her neck and his eyes chased hers. "I'll make a fucking scene if I have to." Randy finally caught her brown eyes and gave her an intimidating glare as he did every night in the ring. Randy was a determined man, he knew what he wanted and he went for it. It applied for every level of his life and, in that moment, he wanted to speak to her. He knew Zoe couldn't afford have something happen in front of her boss.

"Don't you dare." She spat out, narrowing her eyes in his direction and removing his hand from her. With a sigh, the brunette looked around and while her boss seemed to have everything covered, she walked towards the door. "Outside." She mumbled without turning back to look at him.

The smirk on Randy's face made it obvious how accomplished he felt. Once they stepped outside, he eyed the girl for a brief moment as she leaned against the wall and looked down, crossing her arms and rubbing her palms up and down her arms. Out of an impulse, the man landed his hands on top of hers to pull her in against his chest.

"Don't touch me."

His lips parted, his mouth hung open. He was more than surprised – he was appalled by her reaction. Where did that come from? A few weeks ago he was undressing her and kissing her all over and now she didn't even want his hands on her? When he managed to close his mouth, Randy stepped back and turned his face, chewing on his lower lip and he tried to look for words. Just _any_ words.

Zoe swallowed hard. She had no clue where that hiss came from and she only realized the words had left her mouth when she looked at the man's shocked face. One thing she knew then, she wasn't going to apologize or make any efforts to make conversation with him. _He_ was the one that was keen on speaking with her so he better just suck it up.

Randy had much to say, many question to pose and he knew he needed to start before Zoe gave up on being there. He took a few deeper breaths and looked at her. "You know… this is where we officially met, where it all started. You didn't like me back then and, well, right now you seem to like me a lot less." Taking a few steps back and forth, he looked for what he was going to say next, almost scared of what her answer was going to be. At last and after hesitating a couple of times, he simply questioned, "What did I do to you that was so bad that I don't even deserve to talk to you?"

Zoe was as hesitant as he was but looking at Randy's worried, almost desperate face, she acknowledged that she needed to change her approach. "You didn't do anything. I need…" she paused and looked at him with a clueless look on his face, seemingly with a question mark above his head. When she looked in his eyes, she felt her head sink with a pain as strong as if something was physically happening inside of her chest; she cared so much for that man standing in front of her that just knowing he was hurt made her want to drop the attitude and let everything go back to the way it was. "I'm trying to get over you." She got it out of her chest, looking down to dodge his looks.

"Why – Zoe, you can't…" He tugged on her arm and pulled her body towards his, this time not giving her a chance to complain or escape from his arms. Still silent, he kissed the top of her head, his arms around her like he was holding on for dear life. He was pondering on what to say that could make her change her mind, but instead, all he could ask was "why?" in a weak, almost faint voice.

She had succumbed to his hold and her body was motionless against his. His heartbeat echoed louder than his voice as the brunette's head rested on his chest. "Because you have a choice to make and I know you won't choose me." Her words came out a bit shaky as she made no effort to pry her head from his frame.

The wrestler kept his tight hold around her, now running his hand up and down her back slowly, in his most loving and comforting way. He looked for words to make her feel better but he didn't want to lie – and at that point, all he could do was lie, since he wasn't sure of what his decision would turn out to be. His hand crept up the back of her head, stroking her hair very gently as he tried to comfort her. "Look…" Randy pulled his body away from hers to get a glimpse of her face. "We're so much alike, it's scary sometimes." He paused again. "I guess only so many people can be perfect," he chuckled to himself, finally getting a laugh out of the brunette. "If only we had met at some other time, under other circumstances… I _know_ I wouldn't have doubts about what to do." He rested his palms against her cheeks. "But I honestly don't know what I'm going to do. I haven't known what I'm doing for a while now."

She had never been in his position and she felt bad about being the other woman so she could only imagine what he was feeling. She nodded her head reassuringly and landed one of her hands on his waist, rubbing it as a soft smile appeared on her lips. She believed him. Her forgiving side became bigger than any other side she had, only Randy did that to her.

"When I'm with you, it all seems right and it's only after I realize what I'm doing that I think of how wrong my feelings for you are." Randy paused, looking at her smile fading as he tried to explain what he felt. "But when I'm with her, I can't stop thinking about how much fun we have together, how much I miss your bitchyness." The man removed his hands from her to rub his eyelids with the back of his hands and taking a deep breath. Looking at Zoe, he tried to find some kind of emotion, tried to read her. "I regret all we've done but I also regret every time I say I love her…"

The brunette wanted to stop him – cover his mouth, plug her ears, yell over him… just _anything_ to make him stop. 'Why is he telling me all of this?' she questioned herself and stopped giving attention to his words. She understood he was confused, she was as well, but his words were making her dread his decision. Zoe continued to scold herself, 'This is why I didn't want to talk to him, this is why I needed to get over him…'

Suddenly, her mind went blank as Randy's soft, plump lips met hers for an intense, long lasting, passionate kiss, as though he was indeed inside of her head and wanted to let her know it would be fine. These kind of kisses were what had gotten them in trouble – they stopped being rational, forgot what or who surrounded them, forgot there was a life beyond each other. The kind of embrace that made them want to give up breathing, glue their lips to one another's. Zoe could almost swear that when they bodies were pressed up against each other's, they could feel one another's heartbeat. His touch seemed even more consuming and almost electrifying. Right then and there, by his kiss, she could have sworn he was going to drop everything for her.

When their lips parted, Randy rested his forehead against hers and, without saying anything, the corner of his lips headed up forming a smile. His hands rubbed against the small of her back and Zoe closed her eyes, bringing one of her hands up, blindly cradling his cheek. For the wrestler, moments like those were the cause of his confusion – with her, he didn't need to be physical past a kiss to feel fulfilled.

"I need to go." Zoe let out in a whisper though she tried as hard as she could to be audible.

"Have I told you that you talk too much?" The man spoke softly, taking short breaths between his words, followed by his lower lip being slipped between his teeth. Randy pulled even closer in, stealing one more kiss and not letting her break it for as long as he could. This one could be their last kiss, the last time their lips met, ever. He had to make the most of it and make sure the moment would be burned in his brain. As he let her go, he watched her smirk almost timidly, looking away from his eyes and biting down on the corner of her lip.

After a couple of breaths, Zoe tried again. "I need to go. I can't afford losing my job, no matter how much I love your kisses." Her hands landed on his chest and slowly fell down his upper body, caressing him. "So, let me know…"

"Yeah." Randy didn't let her say the final words. She didn't have to and it was already difficult as it was: he knew the next time he spoke to her would be to tell her what his decision was. Despite the circumstances, the wrestler thought to himself that 'it could have been worse' but it was almost a painless goodbye. At least so far.

As they both turned around to make their ways back to their lives, the sound of Zoe's phone rang in their ears. She pulled the phone from out of her pocket and a smile appeared on her face as the flashing screen displayed "Randy". The brunette imagined he just wanted to be cute one last time so instead of picking up, she spun on her heels again to look at him.

Much to her surprise, the man was standing there looking at her, with his hands on his pockets.

"Randy… how are you calling me…"

"I'm not. I don't even have my cell phone – " His mind raced for a second before stopping completely. Quickly going through his last steps before leaving to go meet up with the girl, it became clear what had happened - he had left his phone at home, on the bedside table. He pleaded for her not to answer the call but though she didn't, he knew his wife wasn't dumb and must have had it all figured out.

Randy had some explaining to do.


	24. Chapter 24

Author's note: Sorry for the lack of updates but I severely struggled to get this chapter done because it is the LAST one. I had to write and re-write this several times because I really don't want to disappoint any of you. So, here it is. I don't know how I feel about this but I hope everyone likes it. Maybe somewhere down the road I'll write somekind of sequel because I miss writing these two already, haha. Again, to everyone who's read since the first chapter and for the one's who've picked up on it halfway, for the ones who kept reviewing my story and encouraged me to continue, for the ones who have favorited this story and everything else possible, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH.

* * *

Randy rubbed his cold palms against his eyelids, breathing out deeply in despair. He had been in that same spot and position, completely motionless for the most part; everything inside of his head seemed fuzzy, a blur almost. He had been so nervous, anxious, regretful, angry... everything in the span of minutes, his head was a complete mess. Even after the dust settled, apparently, he couldn't be sure of what he was feeling.

In his head, he was trying to glue back parts of the conversation, thoroughly searching for the words that could have been said, for good comebacks. It still felt unreal – the image of his wife sitting on the couch clutching his phone as soon as he walked past the door, was still burning in his eyes; the way her eyes looked red and puffy still put a huge weight on his shoulders. Randy remembered how after that he decided immediately he wouldn't lie to her, he had done enough of that. So, he just questioned her. "What do you know?"

Sighing yet again, her words rang in his ears still clearly. "I know you've lied to me to spend time with someone else. I know you needed to ear her voice several times a day when you didn't even pick up my calls..." and then he told her everything – how they had met, why she was so appealing to him, how he excused himself to spend time away with her, the times they had tried to further their relationship. _Everything_. No filter, no sugar coating...

He remembered the cold, painful silence after she asked if "it wasn't just sex"... he recalled even clearer how hard he swallowed after he let out an incredibly heavy, yet barely audible "no". The way he just stood there and watched his wife bury her face in her hands and sob loudly made him feel the worst person ever. How he wasn't sure he should go hug her and apologize or just go pack his bags... Randy had never thought so little of himself – not when he was telling other woman he loved her and not when he attempted to get physical with her.

Part of him tried to convince himself that it was impossible to guess she would ever feel like this, looking at how they had been fighting constantly, at how many scenes she would make for one reason or another; the biggest part of him though, it told him that he was a shit person and he was the one who should be in her place, completely devastated.

"Seems like I _did_ have reasons to be suspicious about everything."

"I'm sorry. I truly am." His voice was low.

All he could do was apologize in his most sincere and heartfelt way and still, she wouldn't even look at him.

* * *

For the first time in over a month, Zoe heard from Randy at last. His words didn't leave her enough room to phantom what was going on – reading between the lines had never been her forte and at times like these, even though she wished she was good at it, it didn't seem like that would help decipher anything at all.

"Can you meet me today at 4 by the bridge?" was all the text said. No smiley faces, no greetings, no 'I miss you'. And Zoe still stared at the lit screen, barely blinking. Her fingertips tapped against her cheek nervously as she puffed her flushed cheeks with air. Analysing the words in depth, the brunette thought to herself that the full words instead of abbreviations could give away that he had been thoughtful and careful concerning what he was writing.

'Or not' the girl scoffed to herself, much keen on calling herself back to earth. The theories she was looking to build were indeed pathetic and she admitted it, but all she wanted was a bit of solace. The past few weeks were torture for her, from cutting contact with the man she had feelings for, to trying to guess what his decision was going to be, when it was going to be and to top it all off, worried for him after his wife found out about everything.

Zoe wagged her head and released the air from her cheeks in a loud sigh. She finally typed a "yes" and hit the OK button to send.

Despite how hard the past few weeks had been, that afternoon was about to change everything. For better or for worse.

* * *

After waiting not longer than ten minutes, the brunette watched the man's shape become visible as he exited the car, dark blue shirt and jeans perfectly hugging his muscular body. Once he carefully closed the door behind him and after he turned around to face Zoe, Randy hung his head and his frame expanded with the deep breaths he took. Zoe mirrored his movement and inhaled but when he turned around at last and looked at him, she forgot to breathe out.

"Hi."

At the first look in his blue eyes, the girl's lips formed a bright smile, a smile that instantly grew wider when Randy showed her the first signs of a grin. "Hi." She managed to overcome all the thoughts and emotions to let out, holding back on the 'baby' and 'I missed you so much'. She stepped closer to him and awkwardly stopped in front of him, hesitantly opening her arms out wide but almost immediately letting them fall along her body again.

Randy chuckled at the girl's visible uneasiness and stepped forwards to meet her, landing his large hand on her lower back to pull her in for an embrace. He could easily understand her hesitance after everything and how long they spent away, but a giant sigh of relief escaped him when he felt her hands on his waist, even if very lightly. When he pulled back and looked into her eyes, he was consumed by the desire of wanting to feel her lips against his own but, for once in a very long time, the wrestler thought twice before acting and let her go after his thumb gently traced her lips.

Clearing her throat, she unconsciously moved her head to dodge his touch and keep herself from losing her cool. "How's everything?" she casually questioned, overlapping her arms over her chest.

"Normal." His lower lip headed upward.

How was she supposed to take that? Her eyebrows almost met as the question clouded her mind. 'Normal'? As in nothing has changed and he had his family back or 'normal' as in now they would no longer have to hide? "Good." She restrained from letting her thoughts become more than that.

"Listen," Orton looked down and then back at the girl whose brown eyes followed his every movement intently. "Sorry it took me so long to say something... I just needed to get my shit together."

"That bad? I mean –" She gulped. "Not a problem." Zoe forced a smile, mentally face palming. 'Of course it was bad' she scolded herself and vowed not to ask anything else stupid.

Randy laughed nervously, running his palm against his hair. "I didn't think it would ever be so difficult to be completely honest." He always took pride in being an honest person, too honest sometimes, but for once, it was nothing to be proud of. Leaning his body against the car, Orton pushed his hands into his pocket and lowered his head. "I told her everything, Zoe." He went silence for a moment, reminiscing everything he had said yet again, images of her face passing before his eyes and her words still echoing in his ears. "Everything."

The hurt in Randy's voice stung her right in the heart and the way he couldn't even lift his head to look at her was making it hard for her to find any words to comfort him. "I'm sorry." Her lips began to tremble but her teeth sunk in to make it stop. "I'm sorry I got between the two of you and..." A huge sigh escaped her as she shook her head from side to side, searching for words to say how sorry she was about the whole thing... even if she wasn't. She was never one to regret anything but she did feel sorry about everything she caused, especially after seeing how Randy seemed so unhappy.

Her shaky voice instantly got Randy's attention causing him to tilt his head up and almost instinctively wrap his arms around her. "What are you talking about? Remember what you said about things not being meant to be sometimes? Maybe it wasn't meant to be..." his hand travelled up and down her back while the other held her head closely to his chest. "What is done is done and all I could do was apologize."

Zoe pulled her head back to look up at him, her heart racing upon hearing his last words. A bit in fear, she finally voiced the question that had been on her mind for so long. "Did she forgive you?

He stared at every bit of her features, his eyes taking in every detail as if it was the last time he would be able to look at her, until his deep blue eyes met hers. "Yes."

"Oh." She almost fell to her knees, hearing the one word she hoped she wouldn't hear. Zoe had talked herself into preparing for the worst, for _this_ but deep down, she could have never guesses it would happen. 'Maybe his wife is the type of person to only consider cheating when there was sex. Maybe she knows he loves her' her mind raced again and the brunette avoid looking at Randy at all costs, afraid that he could read her mind.

"But I didn't want to stay. I just couldn't after what I did to her." Randy added hurriedly, seeing how heartbroken the brunette looked. "The last thing I want now is a relationship."

Once again, Randy's words made her smile disappear as fast as lightening, the last part overshadowing the first words. "Oh." Zoe repeated, this time in a faint voice. She felt her face turn bright red and a big lump forming in her throat. Before she could do anything to stop it, she felt a tear roll down her cheek.

"Come on, Zoe. Don't 'oh' me." The wrestler outstretched his arms with a roll of his eyes.

She was speechless; "oh" was all that she could say. She genuinely didn't know what to do with herself after that. With every fiber of her being, she hoped from now on they wouldn't have to hide anymore, they wouldn't have to argue but as always, her plans didn't work out. Breathing deeply, she brought her hand up and ran the back of her hand against her cheek.

"Come here." A soft smile appeared in Randy's face as he ran his thumb under her wet eyes. "I want you in my life. I don't want to be in a relationship but this thing I have for you, it's obviously not going anywhere." He pressed his lips up to hers in a gentle kiss, almost laughing when he pulled his head back and looked at the confused gaze on her face. Biting more than he could chew had become an habit and nothing good ever came from it so, for once, he wanted to take things slow. "Now we can just kiss or tell each other to fuck off whenever we want." He explained with a bashful smile dancing on his lips. "I really like your kisses."

A laugh escaped Zoe's lips but she rapidly pulled herself together and put on a serious face, nodding frantically. "And I really like to tell you to fuck off." She smirked, standing on the tip of her toes to peck his lips tenderly. Zoe bit on the inside of her lip, trying hard to contain her giant smile but it was difficult after hearing how _he wanted her in his life_. It no longer mattered that she wasn't going to get the typical happy ending every other girl wanted to get - She was going to be a part of his life.

"Well, I'm really not going anywhere. I want you in my life."


End file.
